We were able to get up and packed and on the road by 9:30AM, we thanked the Kimrey’s for letting us stay with them and were on our way. We weren’t quite sure how far we intended to travel today, we wanted to try and make it to the west coast, making a few stops along the way for some short hikes. We figured when it got close to dinner time we’d stop at the nearest town and find a place to stay. It was raining once again today, a bit harder than it had yesterday, so the drive over the hills went slowly. Once we were away from the coast the rain subsided and we just had some overcast skies. We stopped at about 11:30 at some Podunk town that had 1 café (the Bushman Café) for lunch. One thing I love about New Zealand is that it’s never hard to find a light meal with reasonable portions. Back home everything is massive. We just got a toastie each, which is basically a grilled sandwich. It’s just enough to make the hunger go away, but not make you feel stuffed.
We went another couple of hours and stopped in a town called Murchisom because they had an information center and we wanted to ask about any 1 ½ to 2 hour hikes in the area. The guy there gave us a few options and we headed out to what we figured would be the 1st of 2 hikes we
planned to do along our drive today. The problem was that we weren’t able to find the 1st hike, we ended up driving several miles into the middle of no where before agreeing to just turn it around and head to our 2nd hike which was one that included spanning across the largest swing bridge in new Zealand. It didn’t take long to get to this hike, and it was well marked because it was a bit more or a tourist attraction due to the bridge. I have to admit it was pretty cool, basically three cables strung across a large canyon/river and you walk on one and use the other two as support w/ your hands. Once across the bridge there was about 2 hours of trails to hike through. It wasn’t raining here, but you could tell it had rained recently because the ground was very swampy and muddy, which made the hiking a bit more interesting. This area was once used for gold mining so there were several points along the walk that included old mining shafts, mining equipment, etc. The walk was enough to make both Marlo and I fairly sweaty since we’d been dressed in warmer clothes which weren’t too good for a 2 hour hike. But we were happy to get the exercise in.
From there we headed out to the western coast, which is known for it’s rain. Evidently the
weather systems come into New Zealand from the west and all the clouds hit the coast and just sit there. As we approached the coast we could see the dark clouds looming. We agreed we’d try to make it down to a town called Punakaiki, which was one of the places we had planned to stop along the drive down the coast. We originally figured on stopping somewhere closer, but we were making good time and figured if we got there tonight we could take our time in the morning. We had no idea how difficult it’d be finding a place to stay there though, that could dictate whether we actually end up there or not. The drive down the coast was really nice, the coastal area is much like California right at the water line, really rugged coast with shear cliffs and rough waters pounding in. But as soon as you were 100 ft inland from the beach it quickly became very tropical, you could be dropped in there and easily be made to believe you were in the Caribbean. We got into Punakaiki and stopped at the 1st place we saw had lodging, which was also the tavern. I went to ask about accommodations and he told me they had a room for us, 
and he also told us there wasn’t much else in the town, “We’re it” is what he said. So we ended up getting a room here at the tavern, which was actually really nice and quaint, and about 1 block from the beach. It turned out that this tavern was the big local spot to go and after dinner time was really filled up. The two bartenders were really cool, they were the guys I spoke to when we checked in. One was an old salty looking guy, with a massive overgrown grey beard, and the other may have been his son, but was a really mellow guy. They didn’t even take my credit card when I checked in, he just said they’d get it in the morning. Best of all, they had Tui on tap! J
We had dinner there at the tavern, they had a special of Mussel Chowder that was amazingly good. I was also convinced by the younger bartender to not have a Tui and to try the local West Coast brewery, which was called Monteith’s, and was OK, but definitely not a Tui. When I tried that other beer and told him it was decent the old bartender came over and told me I must have my taste buds in my ass because that beer was crap. These guys were very entertaining and it was cool to hang out in a nice tavern that was only 50 feet from my room for the night, it was almost like we made the tavern double as our living room. I’m actually sitting here in the tavern right now typing this. Our plan for tomorrow is to get up whenever we wake up, take a hike around here and then continue heading south. The weather is supposed to be fairly nasty for the next couple of days, I guess it’s payback for the great weather we’ve had up til now.
We went another couple of hours and stopped in a town called Murchisom because they had an information center and we wanted to ask about any 1 ½ to 2 hour hikes in the area. The guy there gave us a few options and we headed out to what we figured would be the 1st of 2 hikes we
planned to do along our drive today. The problem was that we weren’t able to find the 1st hike, we ended up driving several miles into the middle of no where before agreeing to just turn it around and head to our 2nd hike which was one that included spanning across the largest swing bridge in new Zealand. It didn’t take long to get to this hike, and it was well marked because it was a bit more or a tourist attraction due to the bridge. I have to admit it was pretty cool, basically three cables strung across a large canyon/river and you walk on one and use the other two as support w/ your hands. Once across the bridge there was about 2 hours of trails to hike through. It wasn’t raining here, but you could tell it had rained recently because the ground was very swampy and muddy, which made the hiking a bit more interesting. This area was once used for gold mining so there were several points along the walk that included old mining shafts, mining equipment, etc. The walk was enough to make both Marlo and I fairly sweaty since we’d been dressed in warmer clothes which weren’t too good for a 2 hour hike. But we were happy to get the exercise in.From there we headed out to the western coast, which is known for it’s rain. Evidently the
weather systems come into New Zealand from the west and all the clouds hit the coast and just sit there. As we approached the coast we could see the dark clouds looming. We agreed we’d try to make it down to a town called Punakaiki, which was one of the places we had planned to stop along the drive down the coast. We originally figured on stopping somewhere closer, but we were making good time and figured if we got there tonight we could take our time in the morning. We had no idea how difficult it’d be finding a place to stay there though, that could dictate whether we actually end up there or not. The drive down the coast was really nice, the coastal area is much like California right at the water line, really rugged coast with shear cliffs and rough waters pounding in. But as soon as you were 100 ft inland from the beach it quickly became very tropical, you could be dropped in there and easily be made to believe you were in the Caribbean. We got into Punakaiki and stopped at the 1st place we saw had lodging, which was also the tavern. I went to ask about accommodations and he told me they had a room for us, 
and he also told us there wasn’t much else in the town, “We’re it” is what he said. So we ended up getting a room here at the tavern, which was actually really nice and quaint, and about 1 block from the beach. It turned out that this tavern was the big local spot to go and after dinner time was really filled up. The two bartenders were really cool, they were the guys I spoke to when we checked in. One was an old salty looking guy, with a massive overgrown grey beard, and the other may have been his son, but was a really mellow guy. They didn’t even take my credit card when I checked in, he just said they’d get it in the morning. Best of all, they had Tui on tap! JWe had dinner there at the tavern, they had a special of Mussel Chowder that was amazingly good. I was also convinced by the younger bartender to not have a Tui and to try the local West Coast brewery, which was called Monteith’s, and was OK, but definitely not a Tui. When I tried that other beer and told him it was decent the old bartender came over and told me I must have my taste buds in my ass because that beer was crap. These guys were very entertaining and it was cool to hang out in a nice tavern that was only 50 feet from my room for the night, it was almost like we made the tavern double as our living room. I’m actually sitting here in the tavern right now typing this. Our plan for tomorrow is to get up whenever we wake up, take a hike around here and then continue heading south. The weather is supposed to be fairly nasty for the next couple of days, I guess it’s payback for the great weather we’ve had up til now.
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