February 9 - Greymouth to Pukehura - 90 km

Another good day - up early and out of the Backpackers by 7 - stopped at the MacD's for a bite and off.

First surprise of the day - I told you about one lane bridges before.  Well, how about adding a railway track to the one lane bridge?  As soon as I saw this sign I thought "Oh, oh."  Once the light turned green we high-tailed it behind a logging truck across the bridge.  We had about a 2 foot path between the side  of the bridge and the rails.  We made it with no problems.

Further down the road I stopped to take this shot.  It shows how the trees are distorted by the prevailing wind.  Unfortunately, that wind is in our face today.  The morning wasn't bad - only headbreezes not headwinds.  The bush underneath the trees looks impenetrable - I don't think you could walk through it easily at all.

Coffee stop in Hokitika, where we also up on emergency food - stuff we can eat if we are caught out not near anywhere.

We are travelling parallel to a railway - in fact the railway went right through the middle of a couple of roundabouts.  You really have to think about what you are doing.  Actually, this particular bridge is no longer in use, but it looked in better condition than some they are still using.

 Our next stop was Ross, a small mining town dating from the mid 1800's.  I took a quick trip around a mining bush walk.  Very interesting.  The first  shot is of the bush trail showing the (mostly) native vegetation.  The brush here looks like you could walk through it, as opposed to the bush alongside the road we saw earlier.

More shots of the Ross mining bush walk.  A miners cabin and an early Ross cemetary - I saw headstones from 1830 on.  The cemetary is high on the hillside and has this fabulous view.

Leaving Ross we fought headwinds for half an hour and then turned away from the ocean inland.  Here it was like biking through a tunnel.  Very narrow roads with no shoulders, but beautiful.

We ended our day in Pukehura.  This is a shot of the entire main street of the entire "town."  It consists of a tearoom/cafe/museum, a bar and a hostel.

Here is the tearoom menu.  Check out the humour.  

I noticed that there was also a sign for the "Bank of Pukehura" which listed exchange rates for 5 countries, one of which was Canada.  I was proud until I read the explanation: "The owner of the Bank of Pukehura was married to a Canadian once.  It was a bad experience.  Therefore we will not be dealing in Canadian currency."  Oops - I never inquired further.  Before you get too smug, Margaret, here's the comment for the British pound: "You buggers have had it too good for too long.  Now its our turn.  Today's rate is 3 pounds for 1 $NZ."

Here's the hostel.  It's somewhat decrepid, but comfortable. We had a great "Bambi Burger" in the bar and and had some wonderful chats with the owners.  

Since we were in the middle of nowhere I couldn't post this (whot's the Internet?).  Its now Thursday and we are in Franz Josef.   I'll tell you more about today later, but we're off for a tour of the town now.