Nick’s world tour

There’s not much I want to see on the west coast. To break the journey and take a few days rest, and away from spending loads of money I head up to a place called Greymouth and then take the Tranzscenic train a few hours up into the Southern Alps.
Greymouth is appropriately named. With the half hour I have before my train leaves, I take a walk around the highlights and am still left with 25 minutes to spare.
The trip to Arthurs Pass climbs from the coast and through farming land, into the mountains before passing through a tunnel to save a few hundred metres climbing, and emerging into the hamlet at about 700m above sea level.


It’s a nice place to relax for a few days, and there really isn’t much else to do apart from walk the many trails and read a good book. One day we climb Avalanche Peak. As it’s a rare perfectly clear day, it seems everyone else has the same idea. The first part is a scramble up some very steep, verging on vertical, rocks, and then a nice ridge walk, with some very steep drops and crumbling rocks to the small peak.

There are great views across the glaciers and valleys, and some cunning keas work in tandem. One distracts us while we take photos and the other hops behind us to try go through our bags to steal our lunch!

Apart from this there are some valley walks and waterfalls. The rapid expenditure halted, and feeling less tired, I go by road back to the coast and carry on up to the north coast. At Pancake Rocks (Punakaki) you can spot those heading north (trousers and jumpers) and those going south (shorts and t-shirts). There is a marked increase in temperature here, though the nice day means the blow hole isn’t working, and the pancake rocks really are a little overrated.

Onwards and upwards to Nelson on the north coast.