Day 20-21 Bus to Greymouth & Visit to Hokitika Gorge, Great Coast Road & Pancake Rocks

On this day we took the Intercity Bus from Nelson to Greymouth. This was about a 6 hour (pick up at 7:15am in Nelson) bus ride (includes 2 stops of about 30min total for washroom or snacks). It starts out in scenic hills and mountain country and then, when the bus ride reaches the hub town of Westport, it breaks out into fantastic coastal views. Among the path travelled is a famous New Zealand stretch called the “Great Coast Road.” I think this is to rival Australia’s famous Great Ocean Road (which is on our itinerary). The roads during this bus ride go from twisty turning up and downs in the hills to twisty turning coastal stretch! We complimented the bus driver on his skills as it requires 100% concentration. Speeds from 100km/hr down to 25km/hr on some hairpin turns as tractor trailers come barreling towards you and dodging the many tourist camper vans on the two lane roads. His day doesn't end with our 6 hour portion - the bus route continues on past where we got off and goes for about another six hours to Fox Glacier!

We got off at Greymouth. This is a coastal town that has a railway link going cross country to Christchurch.

We had an ambitious plan for our 24 hours (1 night) in Greymouth, that didn’t quite work out as planned. We had booked a rental car with someone to meet us at the bus terminal upon arrival. Unfortunately it started to rain shortly before we got to Greymouth. We got the car from the rental car lady, who was waiting for us. An example of the easy going attitude of New Zealanders - when I asked will she meet me tomorrow at the drop off time for the car she said no, just park it in the same area on the street or in the grocery store parking lot next door, leave the keys in the glove box and leave it unlocked! No worries (the New Zealand classic response to everything)!

We then checked into the Sundowner Motel (1 night about $152NZ). We had planned to drive back the Great Coast Road to look at some beaches and at a famous rock formation walk at Punakaiki called the Pancake rocks. We had also hoped to drive in the morning to Hokitika Gorge before embarking on our cross country train adventure.

But the weather in the afternoon was full on rain drizzle and fog! So we tried to wait it out and changed the plan to take a chance and drive south to Hokitika Gorge in the afternoon, hoping the rain might abate to the south before we reached there.

We got really lucky as it was still RDF until we got about 10min away (out of about an hour drive) and getting close to dusk, when the rain stopped to allow us a look at the gorge and for some photos. As mentioned when we got there it was nearing dusk and it was also basically deserted of people except us! The gorge is spectacular, with its’ glacier fed waters showing a unique turquoise colour. You reach it by a short hike that goes over a large pedestrian swing bridge.

Here are some pics from Hokitika Gorge:

Here are two videos from Hokitita Gorge:

https://youtube.com/shorts/JdpYEkR_Dtc?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/wgTcpN6eGow?feature=shared

In the morning the RDF still lingered but was slowly rescinding. So we took the drive along the coast, had a short hike, look at some beaches and got to the Pancake Rocks.

Here are some pictures from the Great Coast Road and the Pancake Rocks site: