West is best

We left Arthur's pass and it was as if the gates to the garden of Eden had opened: lush green forest, rich with birdsong,warm and sunny. Could this really be Greymouth ?( where it normally looks and feels as it sounds...)
We found an idyllic spot on the coast and even got the picnic table and chairs out to enjoy a spectacular sunset.
A leisurely morning followed with a coast walk from van to coffee, then up the coast to "pancake rocks" and a walk up the tail end of the Paparoa tramp. I had planned to ride this ( unusually it's a shared bike/walk trail) however there had been a landslip blocking the central part of the route. So walking it was - and very pleasant it was with a lovely if chilly swim half way round.
From there we headed inland to our friends Murray and Gaye ( and son Euan)
Murray is West Coast farmer born and bred and through the mists of time, neither of us could remember how we met. That needn't matter as even though our lives could not be more dissimilar, the warm welcome they have always offered transcends this.
They run a dairy farm with 800 cows 40k up a dead end valley surrounded by magnificent but impenetrable mountains. Wow.
We soon settled into country life , building silage piles, delivering stock, milking the pissing, shitting machines they called cows. Day 2 finished the silage piles and a visit to drench, castrate and dehorn( different issues, and believe me you'd sooner be castrated than dehorned😳) a neighbors young bulls. All set to the calm homely ambience of Gaye recounting tales of everyone related to the valley and feeding us like royalty.
By day 4 we were starting to feel some inertia, the draw of Gaye's ginger fudge needed to be overcome, so we reluctantly headed off into the rain, heading North.
Our goal now is Nelson but a wee detour was called for to return to Lake Matiri hut. The kids are still traumatised by the previous trip we made up there, wading through dangerously high rivers to find a hut full with a snorers convention.
This time was much more pleasant: no overnight and a new road and bridge making it all a bit tame, though beautiful all the same. Demons exorcised.Read more