Monday 5 January

We had been freedom camping for four nights so the decision was taken to go the a camp site at Murchison which had good reviews. En route we called in a Greymouth—nothing to recommend this run down town other than it is the west coast terminus for the train that runs from the East coast at Christchurch over the Alps via Arthur’s Pass—a recognised great train journey of the World. The train shared a bridge with cars

but the town was sad—Helen could not even find a coffee shop!

onward to Reefton, a small town which was delightful—a good coffee shop

but it’s main claim to fame is that it is recognised as having one of the largest and best skateboard parks in the World.

Travelling on to Murchison we came to Buller Gorge with NZ’s longest swing bridge which had to be negotiated

We also noted that they had a jet boat trip up and down the river voted by the Lonely Planet as being one of the best value jet boats in NZ.

We camped at the Kiwi site in Murchison and walked into town for supper calling in at the local church which was still open. The pews were at an angle so the priest had a good view of all the congregation—no nodding off during sermons!

Supper was at the Commercial Hotel which in it’s lifetime had been destroyed by an earthquake, destroyed by fire, destroyed by flooding and finally the popular and genial publican was recognised by the local policeman as being wanted for a theft in Perth, Australia—he was deported.