We wished we had an extra day in Breakers Boutique (near Greymouth) cause it’s a relaxing place to stay, and there’s plenty to see just north. Unfortunately, when we were planning, they didn’t have availability for the two days. Oh well, I guess that’s for another trip.
We did start the day driving north 30 minutes to Punakaiki and Paparoa National Park to see Pancake Rocks. It was windy and drizzly (and for most of the drive today). There weren’t many tourists visiting today based on the car park.
There’s a nice boardwalk that takes you through the park. Pancake Rocks are unique - it’s hundreds of thin rock layers stacked on each other, with the Tasman Sea pounding away at them. Well worth the drive!
Stopped in at the tourist info centre which had some pretty decent souvenirs. Heather bought a t-shirt.
Then headed south on Highway 6. The drive, winding along the coast, is stunning - it’s a tourist attraction on its own. We had a list of suggestions for the drive to Franz Josef from Jan, our host at Breakers.
Because of the rain we decided against the treks and instead called in at Shades of Jade in Greymouth. Heather had liked their jewelry on display at Breakers. I bought a hei matu necklace, a stylized fish hook, a Māori symbol.
The jade folks recommended Monteith’s Brewery for lunch so we checked it out. The portion sizes were large. Should have split a sandwich and salad. Heather liked their cider. Bought a couple bottles to go so I could try their Pale Ale later on.
Debated getting groceries in Greymouth for a couple days out (Greymouth is the largest town we’ll be in the next few days) but decided to take our chances in Franz Josef.
The rest of the afternoon was driving with occasional stops for viewpoints, some spectacular, others okay. Filled up on gas in Hokitika at the NPD self serve. It was much easier figuring out how to be open the gas cap on the Corolla vs the Outlander we had in Tasmania.
The weather cleared as we arrived in Franz Josef. Most people come here to see the glaciers, but it looked a bit like a tourist trap when we did our planning, what with global warming causing the glaciers to recede. So it was just a transit stop for us.
Franz Josef reminded us of a ski resort town, with the focus here on getting tourists to take a helicopter tour.
Picked up some groceries at the Four Square in town (it’s a chain here). Our bnb is just on the outskirts of the centre, about a 5-10 minute walk. It’s surrounded by rainforest.
There were just a couple of restaurants to choose from, which didn’t take reservations, so we went early for dinner (6:45) and were able to get seated at Alice May’s. As with almost all restaurants here, they had a sign warning about how understaffed they were.
The food was excellent, Heather had the salmon and I had the grilled pork, and a bottle of local pinot noir. We would have preferred more vegetables. At least the next couple dinners we’re cooking ourselves.
We wandered about the town after dinner. It was still bright out, the sun only set around 9:15pm cause we’re a bit south and close to solstice. The Southern Alps looked nice at dusk, we were lucky the clouds had cleared.
No comments:
Post a Comment