Continued heading north along the west coast today departing from Greymouth around noon or so. We stopped at the famous Pancake Boulders just 30 minutes north of Greymouth and later stopped at the Buller Gorge. Both are known as key points of interest in New Zealand and I would say they are pretty interesting. The weather at the Pancake Boulders was not terribly good, but as we continued north along Highway 6 it gradually cleared up.
One interesting story was a stop we had just south of Westport on the West Coast. We stopped for a brief visit and some pictures to a seal colony. On one hand there was a path that wound around the beach and looked to be somewhat of a long journey and on the other hand there was the option of crossing the beach and hiking up the rockside. I decided that we would take to the beach and climb the rocks. As I led the three of us jumping from rock to rock along the beach I did not notice how well one of the seals had blended into the surroundings. Thankfully I lept to the right instead of the left but nonetheless heard a loud roar as I stepped down. Not more than two meters to my left was a huge male seal head in the air snarling at me. I quickly sprung across a few more rocks and up grassy hill only to find myself in the face of another seal snarling at me. I quickly backed off, heart pounding and hands bruised from falling on a previous rock and ran away. In the end, we decided to take the longer path.
After a nice Indian dinner in Nelson (along the North coast) we neaded closer to Abel Tasman National Park and have found ourselves a quaint motel on the outskirts. Weather cooperating, we are planning to do some kyaking somewhere in the park at the Golden Bay.
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