Driving alongside the Buller Gorge.
First stop, Cape Foulwind, named by Captain Cook after his ship was blown off course. The cloudy skies and very dark sand made it seem like the coast was a gateway to some mythical netherworld.
So far away from the rest of the world!
Nope, that's not a kiwi. That's a weka, commonly mistaken for a kiwi by tourists.
Cape Foulwind is home to a fur seal colony, its main attraction. Can you spot the seals? They really blended in with the rocks. We were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a newborn seal (1st photo; see if you can spot it, it's even smaller, but it stands out more colour wise). The seal in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th photo seemed pretty busy while we were there; I'm not sure what it was looking for.
Another weka, up-close. They're not shy like the kiwi; much more cheeky (they're known to try to steal food from unattended bags).
Second stop, a very brief hike through a section of the Paparoa National Park. The skies were even darker now (which made the sand seem even darker; the sand was much more gravel-like at this beach), and it was now raining. Combined with the violent waves, and it really made for quite a gloomy, wet atmosphere (I brightened the photos a bit so it wouldn't look so gloomy).
Third stop, the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks. The rock formations were quite amazing works of nature. I really wonder how the "stacked pancakes" shapes were formed. Luckily there wasn't any rain in this region (though it was still pretty grey and dark; I brightened up a few photos). A few parts of the trail felt like a mini Great Wall (12th photo) - rock walls, misshaped stone steps, winding path. There were also these huge fields of the reed plants (I think) in the last photo all over the place, and for some reason, I thought they were a really strange sight (almost as strange as the rocks) just because of the shear volume of them (plus they stood out against the dark brown rocks).
Finally at Greymouth. I stayed at the Magic Bus recommended YHA Greymouth, a former church converted into a hostel! I stayed in the 10 bed dorm, which was the former chapel! I've never slept in a chapel before hahaha.
After dropping off my stuff (I was lucky there was already someone in the room to let me in because the reception was on break when we got there...the same time the bus gets there every day), I headed out to one of the Magic Bus recommended activities at Greymouth (and pretty much the only thing to do in town), the Monteith's Beer brewery tour, along with others from the bus. This really made the night a whole lot more enjoyable (otherwise Greymouth would've been dreadfully boring). I guess beer = fun times really is true hahaha. The tour was an awesome deal: $25 NZD (about $20 CAD) included the tour, sampling of Monteith's eight different brews plus a full glass of your favourite brew (the real reason people do the tour haha), taxi service from the hostel to the brewery, taxi service from the brewery to a restaurant, and dinner at the restaurant which served fancy salad (not the cheap stuff), a burger, and lamb chops with onions! Hands down the best $25 NZD I ever spent, and totally worth the price. The food was good too, and filling!
The brewery tour. Monteith's is one of many NZ's bigger beer brands. They ferment their beer in open top vats, something you don't see too often these days.
The tasting room at the end of the tour, what everyone was waiting for hahaha.
Monteith's eight brews. The one I remember most was the Crushed Apple Cider "beer" (2nd photo) just because of how unique the flavour was compared to the rest of the brews - it didn't taste anything like beer, much more like an apple vodka cooler.
Enjoying my last beer at the tour, a glass of Monteith's Black (I like my dark beers). I'm red already...hahaha.
Cheers! The restaurant was awesome! Not only was the food good, but the beer was sooo cheap (compared to what I'm used to paying) - $6 NZD (about $4.80 CAD) per pitcher!!! So we obviously got a few pitchers together. It is actually impossible to find beer sold that cheap in Ontario! The 5 of us at the back of the table are all Canadian (what a small world!)! From left to right: Mallorie and Denise from Lakefield (a small town somewhere in Ontario hahaha) on my left side, and Janelle and Vanessa from somewhere near Edmonton. Always awesome to meet other Canadians while travelling!
The great dinner. Janelle was too full to finish her lamb chop (she didn't even touch it!) so of course I graciously offered my services of finishing it for her hahaha. The lamb so sooo good (of course, NZ is famous for their lamb!).
After everyone was fed, the fun began! The restaurant/bar had karaoke (though it was a bunch of old PS2 karaoke games on a PS2...I miss Japanese/Chinese set-ups haha), so obviously I had to sing a couple songs hahaha! Richie was an awesome driver - he bought us all shots! And once we were all liquored up, the singing (or attempts to sing) began. I met a really cool guy who was also on the bus, Rory (who's somehow not in any of the photos!), and we competed on a couple of songs together (though I don't remember them now hahaha)...I don't remember who won the most, but I'm sure we didn't embarrass ourselves too bad hahaha. I even went up against a local who was at the bar on some Sean Kingston song (I think...). I've borrowed the 3rd and 4th photos from a friend.
But eventually, the night had to come to a close. Luckily, there were only 3 of us in my room, so I paid for a 10 bed dorm and only had 2 roommates (yet another surprise)! Using the bathroom at the hostel felt strange though...it felt like I was showering in a barn thanks to the old wooden church walls (maybe the alcohol had something to do with it haha).
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