West coast.

On Wednesday we left Franz Josef and travelled north to Greymouth. I felt a little sorry for Greymouth. People back home told us to give it a miss due to its grey and industrialised landscape. However as we parked on the pier for coffee I read through the numerous bronze plates paying tribute to the many local seamen who were lost at sea in this area of coastline. Later just outside the town we stopped to look at one of the many memorial stones listing the names of local miners killed underground. It would seem that not every town in this beautiful country gets to go to the ball, there always has to be the plain sister who stays at home doing the housework.
Later we stopped for the night at Punakaiki on a campsite where we were met by a lovely 12 year old girl who gave us the obligatory "receptionist speal" of..."hi, sweet, cool, awesome".
We loved the rocks and the blow holes (free admission/ voluntary contributions).
That night we visited the pub next door and got bit to hell on our fingers by sand flys.
The next day before continuing we walked the Pororari river gorge around the back of Punakaiki. This was  a stunning walk that took just over 2 hours.
We then followed the amazing coastal road that runs up to Karamea. A  road voted one of the most scenic in the world. You just want to stop every mile to take photies!
Before hitting Karamea we stopped outside Westport to visit a seal colony.
Karamea turned out to be surprisingly attractive for such a tiny town with a dwindling population. It has a couple of backpackers, some b&b's, 2 pubs and about 3 campsites. Fortunately we chose the memorial site in the town. This was basically a converted rugby club, the town lost its rugby team when the large dairy facility closed down. The site was well looked after by a lovely retired couple and at 20 dollars for a powered pitch was way below what we were used to paying.
The town basically sits at a dead end, the coastal highway ends at the DOC campsite at Kohahai, a beautiful national park area where the river meets the sea and where there are lots of special walks but beware of the sandflies here. These are  really hungry a would make this a difficult overnight stop.