West Coast

Made it to Greymouth by train! Fantastic train ride over Arthur's Pass from Christchurch to Greymouth! 

I think I took about 400 pics. I'll have to sort them out before I post a bunch. Here's a few:

We got to Greymouth about 1:30pm, train was late - was supposed to be there about 12:45pm. Picked up our luggage and went into the mad house of getting a car. We already booked the hire but everyone else was lined up too. Got the car, put all our stuff in it & headed to get some grub before we made our journey South. 

A little turned around at first, but thanks to Charlie lending us his hotspot, connected to my phone & Google Maps led us back in the right direction. Thank you so much Charlie!

Beautiful drive down the coast to Franz Josef. 

Mom was freaking out as I was taking pictures out the car. Which I normally do, but I guess not at the same time as driving in the opposite of the road. 

The scenery was stunning. We did stop at the most gorgeous river, Whataroa River. The color was a light aqua blue not the brown mucky rivers at home. They are fed by glacier waters. 

Not too long after this river, we came to our stopping point for the next 2 nights at Franz Josef. Staying at 10 Cottages - comfortable & within walking distance to town. 

Here's our view. 

We went to dinner at The Landing. Mom had lamb shanks, I had venison stew. Very good. 

And a beer of course. 

Venison stew 

Lamb shank

No tips either. New Zealand is a no tipping country. 

Tomorrow is Easter, there will be restaurants open but no alcohol is sold. We stocked up our fridge with some wine for tomorrow. The restaurant we went to tonight said you can have a drink tomorrow only if you buy food too. We might go for breakfast then check out the town and just relax. 

We're both happy to sleep in a little.  

Until tmrw..

-AI