The Grand Backpacking Adventure - Day Four - Greymouth

I was up early again to catch the bus up to Greymouth for the next stage of my journey. The town was pretty quiet and cloudy and I was a bit forlorn for having to leave the peaceful mountain town, it had really grown on me. On the bus were a lot of familiar faces, the guy from England, the girl from Finland, the girl from Brazil, and my roommate from the past two night were all headed up North as well. Also saw one of the girls from Holland from 2 nights ago. Our driver this time was a bit... well, you could tell he as a kiwi. Most tourist guides along the west coast are actually foreigners who just love the area so much they get jobs as tour guides to stay. This guy was definitely kiwi, and he had a lot of road rage so the ride was enough to make my stomach churn.. But he stopped at some nice places for photos again. We stopped along Lake Lanthe for photos, I was just glad to hop out into the fresh air for a bit. I was glad this was my short ride, only for the morning.

A bit rainy, here's a sheep field with mountains in the background. 

We also had a morning tea stop at this place called the Bushman's center, a very colorful stop with a clearly strong personalitied owner.

It was an interesting place. Food was pretty good, but I was not adventurous enough to try the possum. Getting back on the road, we headed up to Hokitika, a very small touristy town, for a half hour stop. I wandered around all the stores in about 15 minutes, the place was not very large. The town used to be a larger brewery town before the great depression hit. After, most business moved up the road to Greymouth because of the train access. Hokitika is on the mouth of a riverbed and known for greenstone, or to American, Jade stone. There were tons of shops and carving places in town all with bargain bins of jewelry deals. I kind of regret not getting something cheap, but I so rarely wear jewelry anyways that I just couldn't justify it. There was a really great yarn shop in town so I picked up a pair of nice wool socks and some possum fur yarn for my mom. The shop owner lady was very nice, she makes socks all day and also runs a knitting museum in town. She told me she even tours the US yearly giving workshops and demos in states all over. (She actually knew where Ohio was and had even been to Cincinnati before!) I was quite impressed.

Town square photo with my tripod on a street sign in the roundabout, that was an interesting one. You can see a bit of the big Jade museum on the right. 

Leaving town was a short 20minute drive to to Greymouth, my final destination. It was actually sunny getting into town so the thing I wanted to do most was visit the beach before the weather inevitably turned sour for the day. We were dropped off at the train station and after asking for directions and getting a map of the town, I headed over to the hostel to drop my pack off. Another YHA, they don't disappoint. This one was an old house for priests in training. It had all original doors and windows and an old coal burning fireplaces that heated the entire building. It felt so cozy walking in! I had a chat with the girl at the desk, telling her of my plans and getting some good trail recommendations for walking around then dropped off my stuff and headed out towards the beach. This was my key, just to show you :) 

When I was originally looking for things to do in Greymouth, I couldn't find much so I just assumed it was a very small town and more of a stopover for the trans alpine train. To my surprise, Greymouth is a bigger town, its just more of a normal people place, not too touristy. It took about 45mins to walk to the beach, I was walking towards the norther shore, but when I got there I was very sad because the beach was all smooth, round rocks that made a lot of noise when the waves receded off them. A bit winded ad hungry, I decided to rest on a driftwood log and eat lunch anyways. I had picked up some roasted tomato and rosemary bread in Hokitika and watched the angry Tasman on the otherwise sunny and happy day. 

After eating, I checked the map again and figured out there were some beach beaches if I walked further south. I decided to set off in search of sand. After waling another half hour or so, I decided that Greymouth is an excellent place to rent a bike. Unfortunately, this conclusion came when I was no where near a bike rental place. I kept walking and finally came to sandy beaches :) 

It wasn't that cold, but I had my jacket and hood up to hide from the sun. I was so relaxing to sit on the beach and just enjoy the day. I couldn't believe that yesterday I was walking on an ice glacier next to a rain forest and today I am siting on the beach. New Zealand really has a wide variety of climates. Makes it difficult to plan what you're wearing. This was also the first day (in all the time i'd been here) That I've worn just a t-shirt. Minus sweater shirt, that doesn't count. (I'm quickly thinking back through all my photos, but I'm pretty sure every other time has been a t shirt with a sweater or jacket) I'm also capri-ing it, so yayyy beach weather!

After relaxing for a while, I started walking back towards town, had to stop again and ask for directions because it turned out I had walked a lot further than I thought, made it back to the town center and briefly perused the shops still open, then walked over to the old rail station and clock tower that the town is known for. I think this old rail station was destroyed by a flood, there were several really bad ones in the last 150years. 

Yarn Bombing! 

I wasn't keen on spending money on dinner, as there was nothing I'd heard of that I had to try here, so I walked back towards the train station and explored the Warehouse store (they were having a labor weekend sale), bought a Tupperware for $2, then went over to Countdown (supermarket) and picked up supplies for a pasta night. They had beer for sale by the bottle and I saw it as a good opportunity to try some of the New Zealand brews and since I actually had my passport on me, I'd be able to purchase them. 

Back at the hostel, I prepared my meal and tried the Tui beer, very good, lots of flavor but a bit strange caramel-y aftertaste. I saved the other two for tomorrow since I had made about 4 meals of pasta and meat sauce. 

There were a couple other travelers at the hostel, my roommate from the previous night in Franz Joseph included. We worked on a puzzle together in front of the fireplace that evening and listened to three of the other girls talking about a whole slew of things (one was American, one British, and I think the other was Australian...) There was another Asian girl who was reading in the corner (she turned out being my roommate for the night) but again, never said one word. 

The hostel was selling wool hats so I asked the girl at the desk about them. She explained that one of the founders of this hostel, Claire, had gotten older and retired and was living in a nursing home but still wanted to be a part of all the experience and the hostel and all the travelers and stories, so she made these hats to sell and asked that anyone who purchased one write her a little story about themselves and their travels. Excellent opportunity for me, so I wrote her a quick note, thanked her, and purchased a very warm grey and brown hat. I had to snap a (blury) photo of how backpacker-er I had become by now, lol 

wool hat, wool socks, wool jacket. But a happy, warm Anna. 

After sitting by the fire a long while, I headed off to bed. The other Asian girl came in not too long after. It was raining at this point and out window knocked around in the wind, but I was so exhausted that I had no problems falling asleep and staying asleep.