West Coast

From Nelson Lakes it was through some more winding roads out to the west coast at the aptly named Westport.

A typical view on the road - 15 km/h behind a loaded truck on an alternating one-lane stretch.  Scenic everywhere except in front!  We passed many bikers on this road, and while the lack of traffic would seem to make NZ a great place to ride, there is absolutely NO shoulder anywhere we have driven so far.  Also, there are many winding roads with blind corners and significant campervan/commercial vehicle traffic.  I would feel pretty at-risk riding on many of these roads.

Westport was a surprisingly charming little town, in a very-recently-blue-collar-industry kind of way.  Their art deco city hall really put the rest of the place to shame.

West Coast Brewing wasn't open for tastings or even bottle sales, but their complete lineup was on tap just down the street at Portobello's, a place run by a friendly Oregonian and his Kiwi wife.  Their steak special was solid and great value, and West Coast's IPA was very tasty.

The next day we travelled south to the Oregon Coast.  Whoops, I'm sorry, I mean more of the NZ west coast.  Easy mistake.

We also stopped at the popular Punakaiki Rocks park in a light drizzle.  It was a much nicer attraction than we expected.

Unfortunately we arrived at low tide.  At high tide, the waves rush through ravines, shoving water and spray into caves which is then shot skyward through holes in the chambers.  Impressive in photos, but we missed it.  :-(

Close-up look at why some of the terrain is prone to rockslides.

New Zealand flax was everywhere - the fibre was used for clothes and tools by the Maori and early settlers alike.

 

Next we stopped briefly at Greymouth, and had a quick peek at the Monteith's brewery and tasting room.  Monteith's used to be a family-owned brewery, but was purchased by one of New Zealand's two giant breweries, DB (itself owned by Heinecken/Tiger).  (The other big NZ brewer is Lion Nathan, owned by Kirin.)  It's pretty obvious that big-brewery money has been funneled into their tasting room.

We each had a small beer, and it was OK.  Maybe a small step up from Granville Island's regular offerings.

I like the Kiwi sentiment

But I did like their urinals - created from beer kegs.

Next was a quick coffee in Hokitika, another seaside village, and a stop at the iSite (New Zealand tourist office) to ask about that night's destination: Okarito.

The way out to Okarito looked a bit foreboding...

...but by the time we arrived at the tiny beachside enclave and its fantastic community-run campground/holiday park, the sun was out and it was hot.  Not hot enough to get rid of the sand flies, but still...

A Sarah-approved stopover, and we were mere minutes from the glaciers we'd view the following day!