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The drive up the west coast progressively got less interesting the further we went past Franz Josef. Scenery soon turned to flat farmland with historic gold towns springing up.
We first stopped in a town called Hokitika, famous for its view of the sunset, New Zealand greenstone and is also known as the 'place of return' by the Maori people as it was the place where European settlers had landed for the second time. The town itself was not very interesting but it still provided us with a nice stroll, time to fix the lads chipped windscreen and a good 'lazy day'. It was then the all to familiar routine of driving further north and finding a spot at the side of the road to freedom camp for the night. Thankfully, the weather was improving and we no longer needed to wear clothes to bed to keep ourselves warm!
The next day we reached a town called Greymouth which was known for it's history in gold mining. We spent the morning having a well needed cooked breakie and catching up with the world on the Internet. We then went further north towards the village of Punakaiki, home of the pancake rocks and blowholes. After spending the afternoon in the cafe waiting for high tide (the best time to see the blowholes) we walked the 20 minute track out to the phenomenal sights. You were stood staring at layers of limestone stacked upon one another in the shape of, you guessed it, pancakes! The blowholes were just as impressive as the Tasman sea crashed up against the rocks creating a thunderous noise as it continued to shape the landscape that would eventually disappear. After some iconic photos we settled for the night ready to reach Westport where we hoped to go White water rafting!
Westport itself was largely an uninteresting 'shopping' town but it provided us with a good chance to pick up a few necessities and find a powered campsite to sleep the night. We also booked up our white water rafting for the following day along the Buller River.
The next morning we were all up early to take the scenic, one hour drive to the village of Murchison where our adventure would begin. We were going to be experiencing grade 3 - 4 rapids along the start of the Buller River because it was too risky to try the river gorge with one raft due to water levels. There was 6 of us in total and our guide Tim soon had us suited and booted in the most delightful west suits - we looked like idiots... No change there then! A short drive and we were taught the basic commands for the river. Our first run I was at the back with Beans (aka Raging Thunder) whilst Woody and Jules took up the job of keeping us all in time up front. Up came the raft to the white water and being at the back was instantly the wiser choice if you didn't want to feel the full force! I wont forget the looks on their faces as they took a face full of ice cold water, absolutely hilarious! The rapids all had names ranging from the devils elbow to jawbreaker and we even got to 'kiss the arse or t***' which were some rocks either side of the river which were shaped like... Well... An arse and t***! Soon enough it was my turn to take over at the front after we'd taken the boat back to the start for a second run on the bigger rapids. I soon learnt my lesson and got a face full of ice cold water! It wouldn't matter in the end though as we all abandoned raft and went for a swim. You really got to appreciate how quick the river took you and it wasn't long before we were all swimming upstream to scramble back into the raft. The time we spent on the river was absolutely awesome and gave us all a pretty exhilarating ride. It was a shame that we didn't get to experience grade 5 rapids but the 3 and 4 stuff we went through got pretty hairy at times.
And so came an end to our time on the infamous west coast as we travelled across the country back towards Christchurch. We still had a few sights to see though, who knows what would be next.
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