Greymouth

On heading towards the west coast we had to cut through the mountains. Winding roads with great vistas. We stopped at a water fall and look out point which was very nice. On route Ruth decided to read aloud the surfing guide we had in more depth. The west coast is known for heaps of great waves,too many to name in the guide. Huge swell, in fact so big most of the time surfers are waiting for the swell to drop a bit in order to get in. Cold murky water with an abundance of marine life. This includes whales, dolphins, many seals, penguins and oh yes great white sharks. We both exchanged a look as Ruth read this. There are a great number of 'sharky' spots in the South Island, something we were not expecting as much as say Australia. We decided to adopt the Aussie attitude of 'she'll be right mate', that we had learned in the land of plenty.
We arrived in Westport and then made our way down the amazing surf highway, giving views similar to the great ocean road in Victoria. We arrived in Greymouth, a place famous for coal mining and green stone. It's a tough old dreary mining town. Many local people seem to want to get out of the place and it does have a bit of an edgy feel. We past a couple of lets say unstable individuals who were uttering profanities under their breath to no one in particular. We spent the first night in a camping area at the back of a petrol station (nice!). It was actually fine and the caretaker was an ex computer scientist who looked a bit like Einstein, he was very funny and we warmed to him instantly. The next day we found the surf and it was good. We surfed at the north end of a big break wall next to a huge river. When big the locals paddle out the river mouth to get to the waves often avoiding driftwood, sewage and the occasional floating cow. The waves were good and the water not half as cold as we had feared, well we are north sea surfers you know. We were unnerved at one point when a local shouted “look at that a shark eating an eel”. Luckily he was further out to see and we decided not to investigate. On leaving the water we got chatting to a local maori surfer who told us we would be fine camping there that night. He was part of the Kahuna surf club that had it's club house located right on the break wall. He quickly invited us to look around the club, which was very impressive and have a beer with him. This as all these things tend to do turned into 5 beers. His name was Simon and we shared beers with him and another local named Dex or Dax, I couldn't quite work out his pronunciation. They had just had a memorial for two of their club members who had died tragically in a mining explosion the previous year. They had made a bench over looking the waves with their names in it and a green stone remembrance plaque. There were flowers left there for the surfers. One was from one of the families, he was only early thirties and had left a wife and two young children. It was very sad and hard not to get a lump in your throat. We had a good and memorable stay in Greymouth.