May 9, 2008 - Greymouth to Picton

May 9, 2008 – Greymouth to Picton

Weather:  Rain on and off, same with the sun.

 

Today was the longest driving day of the trip so far.  From Greymouth to Picton is slightly over 400 km or about 240 miles.  You normally wouldn’t think of this as a long drive but the early part of the trip is getting back over the Southern Alps and it is rather slow going.  Once you get past them it is a straight shot down to Blenheim and Picton following a river valley and an amazingly straight highway.

 

Upon leaving Greymouth we follow the coast north stopping first at the Pancake Rocks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi from us!

 

These are very unusual layered rocks that look like they were stacked up but are the result of years of wind and sea erosion.  For any geologists reading this I think they are called dolomite rock.  A worthwhile stop and then just a little further we stop at the fur seal colony.  This year there seemed to be more pups than usual and all in all probably more than a couple hundred.  They are fun to watch – some just laying around sleeping in the sun, a mother nursing a young one, a mother apparently weaning a youngster that seemed a difficult task for both as evidenced by a lot of yelling back an forth, one of the younger seals chasing a weka bird over and around the rocks, and some just playing.

 

 

 

 

Contest - count how many there are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the seal colony Hiway 6 turns inland and over the Southern Alps.  Along the way there is a rest area that we’ve stopped at before to stretch our legs.  This time there was a couple there from Nelson, a town at the north end of the south island and not far from Picton.  They had a strange dog with strange coloring. 

 

 

 

 

As it turned out it was part collie and part poodle.  It turned out that the man was an expert woodworker and had worked on shipbuilding (older sailing ships).  They had worked in a Boston on a project there.  It never fails that you meet some really interesting people in the least expected places.

 

As we got closer to Picton we started going through vineyards.  It is an incredible site with vineyards all the way from the river valley to the side of the mountains.  We drove for miles and miles with vineyards on both sides of the road.  There were thousands and thousands of acres of vineyards.  For the most part other than an occasional odd one all the vineyards were expertly manicured with mowed grass between the rows and with the vines all espaliered in line with the rows.  Just beautiful to see.  A lot of these are new vines just a couple of years old and most also have a rose bush at the end of the row.

 

Everyone arrived safely in Picton and it was another good day.

 

Kiwi Word of the Day:  Brekky  -  Breakfast