The Meandering Journey to Greymouth

Greymouth is two thirds of the way to the town of Franz Josef. Making it a convenient place for Magic Bus to stop for the night and allowing for a reasonable arrive time the next day at the Franz Josef Glacier.

This leaves you with a day with some ground to cover but time enough to make some interesting stops. We made two that were well worth mentioning.

The Truman Track is an hour long hike along rugged coastal cliffs. The scenery made me think of Wales or Ireland.

We worked our way through broad landscape and horse fields to the other end where there was a seal colony. It was a nice balance to the kayak trip where I saw fewer seals but was much closer.

Our second stop was Punkakaiki, home of the Pancake rocks.

These oddly formed towers jut out of the water and are made of thin noticeable layers.

Science can't fully explain the ridging but obviously it has something to do with a cycle of pressures over time.