After our recent use of luxury transportation in the helicopter we continued in the style that we had been accustomed to and continued up the coast in the Van! Just a short drive the wind and rain found us in Hokitika.

This place swarms with tourists in the summer as they all arrive to buy Jade in copious amounts from the towns many stone shops. We booked into a small campsite on the outskirts of the town which had a menagerie of animals including Llamas, chickens, pigs and goats. We found after the storm had cleared the next morning (and after I had the misfortune of watching Europe lose the Ryder Cup to the Yanks) that the camp site was home to the worlds ugliest pig. Its buckled teeth and flesh-yoyo tumor hanging off its face would take a lot to beat! After checking out the rest of the animals and trying not to kidnap the chickens we went into town. The tourist season obviously had not kicked off yet as the wide streets were empty and the staff in the Jade shops were outnumbering the shoppers greatly. We thought that we would check out the Tourist Info to see what there was to do around Hokitika. We found that if it didn't have something to do with Jade then it was up to you to make your own entertainment with the exception of two things. You can see the cave's glow worms but that is best seen at night, or you can hire a Porsche Speedster or Birdcage Maserati and drive around. My vote was for the Maserati but somehow the budget wouldn't stretch.

It was then that I spotted a flyer advertising the next best thing… A Tour around the Montieths Brewery with sampling of their beer at the end. Within seconds we were back in the van and driving up the coast to Greymouth the home of Montieths. Since being in the South Island I have become quite partial to the odd pint of Mr Montieths very own as they are Ales rather than Lager. They come in different flavours too!

We were shown round the brewery in a group of 6. Everything was covered from their unique grains used their no nonsense no additives brewing to where the 2 women stand and pack up to 20,000 bottles an hour by hand! Once we had the tour out of the way it was time to sample merchandise! At this particular time they had 7 different beers that they were brewing. We were given about a fifth of a pint of each one and as Katie doesn't really like beer she had nominated herself as the driver. This meant that I could get a second opinion on the tasting by drinking hers too. Once we had the tasters it was up to us to pull a half or two of our favourite beer to enjoy. This of course was a hardship and once we had chatted about the sacrilege of NZ insisting on chilling all beers and put the world to rights it was back to the camper with a warm feeling inside! If you want to try the Montieths beer back in the UK Waitrose has just started importing them in bottles. I can thoroughly recommend the Radler, Summer Ale, Winter Ale, Golden or Original.

We headed north still for a while to camp overnight because the next day it was time to make our own knives!