Around The World In 80 Waves

After the sun goes down I drive down the coast road in the darkness towards Greymouth. I had originally thought I would reach that point by lunchtime today, but in fact don’t get there until about 8pm.

It is quite clear the Romans never conquered this part of the world because the roads seem to follow every twist, turn and undulation in the geography and at times progress can be painfully slow. 

There was supposed to be some sort of coastal blow-hole to my right as I drove south, but it was pitch black and I just wanted to settle in for the night so pressed on until I got to Greymouth.

Mining and whaling were responsible for the growth of the town and there were a few museums to educate anybody interested in such things, but I was shattered and couldn’t wait to get to the camp site alongside the beach. 

After setting up the van for the evening I turned in fairly quickly. I assumed the waves I then heard all night were as bad as the ones I had seen at Tauranga Bay just up the coast so didn’t have much hope of a surf in the morning. However I was pleasantly surprised to see this when I went for my surf check in the morning.

My time on South Island is really limited though and because I was without a board it made more sense to push on rather than spend half a day trying to lay my hands on one. Due to the distances involved and the limited progress that the roads allow it is also prudent not to push on any further south, instead crossing the island via Arthur’s Pass towards Christchurch.