West Coast Once More

After an enjoyable stint with the pigs for me and a great girls weekend for Sarah we met at Christchurch Airport and headed off to Mount Thomas and then Arthur's Pass once more. Here the walk in to Casey's Hut provided a memorable night and an excellent walk out the following day before we headed to Lake Moana and the coast.

The west coast has a substantial gold and coal mining history which made for several fascinating forays to Waiuta where we spent the night on the former bowling green, Denniston with its steep inclined coal tramway and the Charming Creek coal mine with several relics spread throughout the gorge. The famous pancake rocks were well worth a visit and the young seal pups at Cape Foulwind were a delight.

Greymouth and Westport provided museums and shopping before we headed north towards Karamea stopping a couple of nights at peaceful Gentle Annie's.

Currently we are at 'The Last resort' in Karamea enjoying the space and comfort of a self contained cottage for a night prior to reaching the end of the road and the start of the Heaphy Track where the Oparara limestone area should provide some good walking and even a bike ride on old logging tracks.

Photos at the link

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/WestCoastOnceMore?feat=directlink