West Coast and Local Kiwi Music Adventures

Since most of our time in New Zealand thus far (in fact all of our time) has been on the East And North Coasts of the South Island, we felt we were past due to check out what the wonders of the west coast had to offer. Well…truth is, not too much, especially compared to the west coast of the states. On the itinerary, Greymouth, Punakaiki and Westport. Greymouth was quite underwhelming, with the exception of the beer tour we had at Montieths (the oldest brewery in NZ). John was probably most excited about the beer tutorial that we received (everything he already knew but probably wished I did)…well, I know now.

Our favorite part, the tasting afterwards, especially when they turned the taps over to us. Oh, did we mention we were the only ones on the tour? Yeah, 8 handles at our disposal. Watch out Greymouth, here we come.

Other Highlights of Greymouth:

1. The guy walking down the street in his shorts and gumboots, blaring "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie from the boombox rested on his shoulder. (Mercer, as you might remember this was my theme song prior to moving to Sea-town and I had a flashback of us singing at the top of our lungs this song one of my last nights on the way home from Macs xo)The guy might’ve been a few cards short of a full deck, but entertaining nonetheless.

2. The guy at the only micro brew bar in Greymouth who was pissed out of his gord and very interested in American lifestyle. Definitely a native local, he was so intrigued with the fact that all Americans eat doughnuts (especially cops), or so he advised us…

3. Last but not least, lemonade guy. Sitting at the bar at our motel, talking with the owner who pours Bays (yes, this trip doubled as a work visit for John) we witnessed quite the argument over what a proper lemonade mixer is. Well, let us tell you, we sided with the owner, who did in fact purchase “dearer” lemonade at the Warehouse previously that day…however, the patron preferred sprite, which in her mind was the premium lemonade alternative. Interesting. This conversation dragged on for what seemed like hours. Part in fact because the lemonade guy lost his lady over this debacle (which he felt the need to go on and on about – the substandard lemonade at the bar and how his lady went home because of it). Poor bloke, went home empty handed, no lemonade, no lady.

Bright and early the next morning we were off to Punakaiki, better known as Pancake Rocks. Allegedly, this day was supposed to be sunshine and rainbows, however, true to West Coast form…it rained, and rained, and rained. Oh and wind, wind, wind. Before we go into pancake rocks, we should mention that the drive from Greymouth to West Port is considered one of the ten most beautiful drives in the world by Lonely Planet. Think similar to Highway 1, West Coast, US. The drive was stellar, and along the way we ran into a roadside honey stop (Shmeegs, I thought of you)…these little roadside shack-shoppes are all over New Zealand, filled with fresh local product at awesome prices.  On your honor system, you take what you want and leave your $$ for the product, no attendant on duty. Works well in NZ…US, we think not (think Halloween, kids approaching a bowl of candy with the ever present “Take only one” sign. Yeah right.)

Pancake Rocks are a rock mass that has been wave and wind carved into various open ceiling caverns over thousands of years - absolutely breathtaking. At high tide, when the waves come crashing in and break against all the holes and cracks in the rocks, large spits of water shoot up meters above the rock level. This place truly illustrates some intense West Coast weather, where it’s beautiful to see, it’s hard to stay long as the whipping wind and rain make it almost unbearable to stand there and watch. However, definitely well worth a look! Back on the highway we ran into a herd of cows running up the road, no big deal…and then were well on our way toward Westport and yet another seal colony (Jim, hopefully you’ve been following what these are – just in case, we took another photo for you).

Quite honestly, we could’ve done without the Westport stop. Nothing much to share here, other than we drove out to the lighthouse, had our PB&J (thanks again Mama Sanden) and turned right around to head through the valley back toward Nelson. Another beautiful drive. Very similar to what you would find in Montana up the Seely Swan Valley, withe the exception of the baby lambs we came across, John just had to stop for a photo…

We hit a snow flurry on the pass after Murchison (everyone was driving half the speed limit, not a lot of experienced snow drivers in this part of NZ) and were thankful the Adventurship held tough, we made it home and prepared for another week of Rugby and Beer.

Friday was upon us before we knew it. A rail jam event at the Playhouse just outside of Mapua with the Flatmates…why not. $10 entry and big sharpie X’s on our hands we headed in to check out the rail and the band. The band was amazing and used 2 didgeridoos, those huge 6 foot wind instruments that rest on the ground used in Australia.

Photographer + vino = sub-par photographs

Great music, cool vibe, fun friends and wine flowing…sounds like a great Friday to us, and it was. Although (Shannon) definitely felt it on Saturday which turned out to be a very unproductive day.

We made up for it on Sunday when we headed up the Dun Mountain trail right outside of town to check out some uncharted territory (for us) and some new views of our amazing city. It was a great way to spend a beautiful sunny day, outside, walking through the forest and hillsides, waiting to see what’s around the next corner. A great feeling we experience quite often being in NZ, especially when it comes to our living situation!

Fast forward to Monday when we found out that the house we’re living in sold and guess what, we’re moving out! Yes, it’s true, yet another move for us…much much sooner than we were hoping, but something we’ve become quite accustomed to.

So, the next couple weeks have some exciting stuff in store… John’s birthday + ski trip with the flatmates and hopefully a new place to call home. Until next time…cheers!