Shantytown

We very sadly woke up to lots of fog and light rain. Our trip to the top of the glaciers had to be cancelled. It was a real disappointment, especially after having missed out on Milford… Well, what can you do?... We decided what we could do was leave town and continue on our way up the coast. It was quite pretty along the way. We made a pit stop in a little town called Hokatika which was very charming, and then just by Greymouth (which is nothing to write home about so I won’t) we went to a little place called Shantytown. The kids loved it – they had a little horse and buggy ride and a steam engine train that we went on up to a spot where we could then walk down a little path to pan for gold. Jordy and Zeke were so excited by their little jar of souvenir gold – Jordy kept shouting, “we’re rich!” and they made elaborate plans to buy a chocolate factory with their riches – they promised Maddy that they would also stock white chocolate at their factory just for her since she doesn’t like regular chocolate. I thought that was very kind of them. We took some pictures of the kids posing on the his-and-hers loo and then continued up the coast to Putakaiki where we were staying at a hotel called “The Rocks” for the night. Putakaiki is a really beautiful spot that is right on the Tasman Sea and has these incredible rocks right there. After we checked in and the kids explored the beach a bit, we went to the specific spot to see the famous Blow Holes and Pancake Rocks, aptly named for the way that they are very long thin rocks piled up on top of one another. We were there at high tide which was perfect for seeing the water spurt up out of the blow holes. It was an incredible place, despite the fact that it began to downpour during our walk around the viewing spots. We had a really lovely dinner at the restaurant at the hotel overlooking the sea.

View pictures from our trip:
December Slideshow
January Slideshow