Day 17. Pancake Rocks

 At the hostel we’re staying at they offer free breakfast so we started today with a yummy homemade waffle and then we packed up the car and checked out the hostel.  Once again when we went to turn Bernard on and reverse him he just stopped, so after Axel and Cara gave us a jump, again, we headed off to the mechanics. Axel and Cara are staying in Nelson another day so we realized we couldn’t do the west coast (where towns can be hours apart) which a car that doesn’t always start. After a terrifying visit to the mechanics where we sure they were going to ask for our life savings (there some major horror stories about mechanics in New Zealand) we left with a new battery and only a slightly lighter pocket.

The weather was awful in Nelson today, the first time I’ve really seen it rain on the South Island, so we were glad to be heading out. The weather did cause a few minor incidences on the road, namely when there was thunder, lightning, a heavy downpour and we couldn’t find the windscreen wipers. But apart from the that the weather kept getting better the further west we drove until when we eventually pulled over for a breather at a picnic spot overlooking the Brunner River the sun was shining so much we had to crack open the suncream!

 Our first stop off above Brunner River

 Our first sighting of the coast

 Stunning coastal views

Some of the views along the way

The drive was beautiful, we drove the inland road down to Greymouth, so we passed a lot of the gold rush towns which was really fascinating, and then we drove up through the Paaassjbdb national park enjoying the view. We eventually stopped at Pancake rocks just before the sun was setting so we got
some beautiful photos and saw the rocks at one of the most beautiful times of the day.

 Part of the path around the rocks

where you can see the rock formations up close

We then drove down the coast, with a few minor stop offs to admire the setting sun, back to Greymouth. We had a little incident here where there were no street lights, the sun had fully set and George was screaming he couldn’t see the road and nearly crashed the car… turns out he had his sunglasses on…

 The road to Greymouth was lined with dairy farms so here are some cuties at sunset

 Looking for a backpackers before the sun set

One of my favourite photos from the day

We eventually made it to Global Village, a hostel the guidebook said was really good. By the time we got there it as nearly 9 so we just made a quick dinner and then crawled into bed.