Eduard and I left the hostel at about 9am and headed half an hour north along the coast to the Pancake Rocks in Panakakai. The restaurant across the street was serving pancakes, which I thought was pretty clever. Spent about half an hour there, then back south through Greymouth, and east towards Arthur’s Pass.
The drive was spectacular, as all drives in New Zealand tend to be. We stopped for photos a few times, then both checked into our hostel. It’s a quiet mountain village, with a few trails in the area. I asked at the local information office to determine the best trail for people with limited times, and we were off to the Chasm and Bealey River .
The hike was supposed to be 4 hours return, but we managed it in under 2. It ran along a river to an area where you could do some rock hopping and reach a smaller glacier and ice cave. Also a nice waterfall in the area.
We drove back to the hostel, and spotted another trail that looked like it was worth taking, but walkable from the hostel. Stopped in the hostel for a few minutes and met yet another Canadian, Marley from Nelson, B.C – who was doing a cycling tour of the island. She said she was interested in doing the same hike herself so, with that, the three of us were off.
This hike took us to an even bigger waterfall, Bridal Veil falls (I believe). We finished it quickly enough that we took another hike which was also quite scenic, but not as rugged as the first hike we’d done, or with the reward of a waterfall at the end.
On the way back to the hostel we stopped and chatted with a man who was driving his 1909 Renault car across the country with his dog. Apparently New Zealand caters well to vintage car owners – which would explain the multitude of Bentley’s I’ve seen on the road of late. He was the third generation to own the car in his family and felt confident that the car would be going for another 200 years or more.
Got back to the hostel and had some food. Showed Marley Lorne’s cross-Canada route on LorneTracker. She was quite impressed – but is still more inclined to cycle South America next. Eduard doesn’t think South America’s (or Brazil’s at least) roads are very suitable to a cycling tour, however, but I’m sure she’ll do some research.
Chatted throughout the evening, then headed to bed as we were all pretty tired. Eduard and I are up early in the morning to drop the car off in Christchurch and head to the airport.