On Monday (the 14th), the weather cleared up and we headed off North up the West coast. It was a long day of driving, dotted with stops at various points of interest along the way.
Our first port of call was a greenstone factory-shop, displaying some of the awesome Maori carvings which you can find all across New Zealand. From there, it was on to Ross, a village known for its huge untapped gold reserves, which can't be exploited unless all of its residents back a mining project. Ross is typical small town New Zealand; wide empty roads bordered by sporadic houses and the odd shop, with a vague claim to fame for some reason or another.
The town of Hokitika was our destination for lunch, where a number of us went off to a cool restaurant to sample the local favourite; white bait. I had an omlette filled with the tiny fish, and while it looked a bit odd, it tasted nice nonetheless.
Greymouth was our next stop, where Guy, James and Mel, who joined us in Auckland, got off to board the Trans-Alpine train that would take them across the waist of the South Island to Christchurch. Our final drive of the day was to Punakaiki, where we would camp for the next two nights.
