Monday 11th February

Having spent the worst night of the trip so far – saggy bed, continuous torrential rain and NEXT DOOR’S snoring, I was not at my best this morning when we set off. The rain had stopped but it was dull and cool as we set off for Greymouth and beyond. It had been the cheapest night so far – NZ$65 for the cabin and we ate what was left of our cold meat and salad, so I wasn’t complaining – much!!

The first part of the drive was fairly straight and within a few kilometres we saw our first patch of blue sky

which raised our spirits a little, and just before Ross (50km) the sunshine came out really brightly. However, this wasn’t to last and more rain slowed us down again. At Hokitika, we were gobsmacked (can’t think of any other suitable word) to find we were sharing the bridge with the railway line – I mean driving along the railway tracks! I just hope they give plenty of warning when the train is coming – can you imagine being halfway across the bridge and seeing a train appear travelling towards you on the same bridge?!? A little further on at Kumara Junction, we had the same unnerving experience AND the railway then went through the middle of a roundabout just like at Blenheim. ‘Elf ‘n’safety would have kittens over here with situations like that but it’s just part of day to day living and everyone accepts it.

When we got to Greymouth, we made the decision to give up on the West Coast, as visibility was poor and we were seeing nothing except the road and immediate environs. So we set off inland towards Reefton on SH7, with the intention of trying to reach Nelson. The atlas gave a drive time of 4hr35min from Greymouth to Nelson. Adding that to the nearly 2hours we’d already been on the road, it meant a heavy driving load for Tom, given that the roads are not the easiest. But the SH7 is actually quite a good road and doesn’t carry much traffic, so we made good progress and reached Reefton (77km from Greymouth) at midday. Time to stop for the usual coffee break anyway, and we had a wander around to stretch our legs. The tourist info office there has a very informative display of local wildlife, some of which is under threat of extinction, and a great history of the gold and quartz mining that really started the town off in the late 1800’s.

Suitably refreshed, we carried on and saw increasing amounts of blue sky, so were congratulating ourselves on our change of direction, when, of course, we ran into more rain! Have you ever had the feeling you just can’t win? At Murchison, we saw our first car accident of the trip. The rescue vehicles were already there, I think that was because the accident had happened just outside the town. I can’t imagine how long it could take the emergency services to get to an accident up in the mountains. All of the local fire brigades are volunteers, so if they’re needed a siren goes off, and it’s a bit like the retained fire brigades in UK, except these don’t get paid. So it calls for some pretty innovative ways to minimise call-outs.

Carrying on up the SH6 the road winds through the mountains, with the rain falling steadily, so views were not brilliant – then we got to the downhill bit and the sun started to shine. It shone pretty much all the way to Richmond where we’d booked 3 nights in the Oxford Court Motel. Richmond is just 15km from Nelson but Tom chose it because of the Zenbu access. (We’ve got so behind with loading the blog and e-mails that we needed somewhere with a good connection. Tom managed to update most of the pics, and I’ve added a bit to Friday’s edition, complete with a challenge for you all).

We’re most impressed with the rooms – king-size bed, in a decent sized bedroom, huge lounge/dining/kitchen area and a spa bath AND a wetroom type shower in the bathroom. Within minutes of unpacking the car, Tom was in the spa bath - while I was doing the laundry, my turn to do the work! Just as I got the last lot out of the dryer, guess what? It started to rain!! And how it poured but only for about 10 minutes thank goodness. Tom reckons we’re the rain gods! as it seems to follow us.

Food shopping was the next task as we’d used the last of just about everything at Harihari so off to Pak’n’Save, just like Saverite used to be, if any of you remember them? Stack it high and sell it cheap or at least cheaper than the other supermarkets.
Faced with the choice of preparing dinner afterwards or having a takeaway, you might be able to guess what I chose.

So to the end of another day. Tomorrow I get the chance to redress the balance and get payback for my “ordeals” – Hoglund Glass and Brian Strong (artist extraordinaire) as well as perhaps some cross stitch/sewing/patchwork shops?! Nelson is full of art and craft, so we’ll enjoy being cultured.