The lady at the campsite had said it was going to rain, so we were very pleased when we woke to find the sun shinning again. The coast road from Greymouth to Westport is one of Lonely Planet's top 10 best drives. It is a very rugged coast with lots of stacks and the sea is very wild making it quite spectacular. At a place called Punakaki the limestone rocks are particularly spectacular with large blow holes and are they are known as the Pancake Rocks and is a popular tourist spot so quite a few Chinese tourists but no wedding shots ! Our lunchtime stop, was not on the tourist trail, at a place called Charlestown, there was nobody on our walk just a few rock climbers on the steep cliffs. We went on to Westport which is famed for its seal colony had a look at that but that was very much a tourist spot. We took a turning down to beautiful white beach off the tourist trail and found a baby seal on the beach, so I hope it wasn't lost. Also there were a couple of surfers out and VW van advertising West Coast surf hire but it wasn't exactly Bondi.
We were debating whether to stay in Westport but the town didn't seem very interesting so we headed inland to the next camping site at Murchison. The drive was down the route of a river gorge. A stop to cross the gorge on a swing bridge lead to an interesting walk which was on the site of a geological fault line where there was a recent earthquake, the shifted levels of the earth could clearly be seen. We could have got a zip wire back across the gorge but the swing bridge was scary enough for Graham! There had also been recent floods and was was incredible how high the river had been.
Murchison is a typical New Zealand town with big wide roads and the occasional car. A few shops, hotels, a school, a tourist office and a couple of churches., but by 8 pm there is no one around we just don't know where they all go at night. You don't see children playing out or youth hanging around they must all be in bed by 8pm! We searched for the library for free wifi but the library seemed to have become a health shop.