No chips for pudding this time !!

We’re now ‘on the road again’ on the 6 and heading to Greymouth. It’s 9.17am, Ben driving first and me in the passenger, Mam and Dad feet up in the back. The weathers warm but cloudy and very dull. Had a windy night and winds are forecast for today so we’ll be taking it easy.

Well we arrived at our first lookout ‘Hope Saddle’. It overlooked the valleys full of trees, the clouds disappearing into the mountains. The weather is perfect again, the roads are wet but there’s no rain or wind here, just sun!! YIPPEE!!

The roads are windy and up and down like a rollercoaster. There were so many stunning views along the way, unfortunately most of them didn’t have anywhere for us to pull in for a quick photo.

After an hour and a half, we pulled up and tag teamed the driving, Claire took over.
We enjoyed the journey, the scenery changed around every corner. There was a layby at the Lower Buller Gorge so we stopped for some lunch. The Gorge was flowing strongly, the water was as brown as Willy Wonka’s chocolate river.

We drove on stopping at the Punakaiki Blow Holes. The tide wasn’t in enough for the blow holes unfortunately, the pancake rocks were enough, it’s only been a few weeks since we were there before but it was like seeing it for the first time.

We drove another 40 minutes and arrived at the campsite at Greymouth and checked in. Dad even got to squeeze in a quick dip in the spa. We’d decided to go out for dinner, it had to be a return visit to Ham’s.

We walked down from the campsite, past the motel where we’d stayed previously. We got our drinks from Bernie and ordered our food....... steak for the boys, gammon for Mam and Chicken Nuggets for Claire. We had a few more drinks and even squeezed in a pudding, just!! Not chips for pudding this time though like Dad H on the previous visit!! Bernie’s son offered to take us home, we could have done with the walk to walk off all the food but gratefully accepted!! Straight back to the campsite, what a star !! What a place!!

Back to the Camper for a port and some dominoes before bed!