West Coast

We continued along the West Coast. We drove to Westport and had a great campsite there, secluded and right on the beach. To get there, we had to fight through a lot of driftwood. We spent the whole afternoon walking along the beach, watching fish and small crabs in the sea, and watching the tide wash over the beach. Unfortunately, it was too cold and the waves were too high to go into the water. As dusk fell, we went back to the beach and sat there for a very, very long time. Next to us, the fishermen made a fire and it was simply beautiful!

The next day, we walked the Tauranga Bay Track. There is a large seal colony there. The track was beautiful, along the cliffs, past the lighthouse, to the Seal Colony. This time we didn't get as close and could only watch them from above. It is always fascinating.

Our next destination was the Pancake Rocks. There was a lot to see on the way there. We prefer to drive along the coastal roads. Especially in stormy weather, when you can watch the huge waves crashing against the cliffs from above. That's exactly what we saw again that day, so we stopped on the side of the road to take a closer look. We stood there for a few minutes and suddenly we saw dolphins. We didn't expect that at all, so it was even more beautiful. We watched them for a while and then continued to the next viewpoint. They are always signposted. We don't stop at every one, but here we wanted to take a few photos. However, the first thing I saw when I got out of the car was a one-legged Weka. Wekas look like a mix between a chicken and a wild duck. The poor little guy looked kind of hungry and somehow I felt sorry for him, he wasn't shy either. Maybe he just didn't feel like moving with his one leg. Anyway, I went back to the car and got a handful of oatmeal and gave it to him. And while everyone else went to the viewpoint on the other side, we sat next to the Weka and watched him peck up his oatmeal :D But we still went to see the viewpoint later!

Afterwards, we drove to the Pancake Rocks, which have their name for a reason, they really look like stacked pancakes :D Nature is so crazy!

Afterwards, we drove to Greymouth and I was starting to feel a little down. Somehow, there was no time to catch my breath between all the attractions. I felt like I couldn't really process all the amazing things we were experiencing. The driving was getting on my nerves and being in a different place every day was somehow exhausting. That's why we decided to slow down a bit and stayed in Greymouth for another day, where we just didn't do anything, except what felt good at the moment :) It always feels good to walk on the beach for hours and drink coffee :) By the way, they make really good coffee here!