A hazy foggy morning developed into a sunny warm afternoon so we drove about 20 minutes up the road to Charleston, a tiny village closer to Westport. Charleston’s beginnings in the 1860’s mirrored and competed with Fox River’s (the area we are staying), as gold mining hubs. In Charleston’s case, there is more of a village now as compared to Fox River, but in the heyday of the gold rush era they were about equal in size! According to a NZ history site “From the junction of the Buller Gorge road (leading into Westport) southwards to Charleston, the road passes over a series of flat terraces. These flat areas were originally under the sea, and have gradually been uplifted over thousands of years. Concentrations of fine gold accumulated with black sand along ancient beaches. The area was swarming with gold prospectors in the 1860s and 1870s, and original forest was cleared. There is now little sign of mining activity except at Mitchells Gully mine, open as a tourist attraction, where old tunnels and mining machinery can be seen.”

We stopped at Constant and Joyce Bays car park and started the short walk along the rugged coast.

The two bays are tiny and Constant Bay has a nice sandy beach.

We walked further through the stands of tall flax plants and emerged on the rocky shoreline.

The entrance to Constant Bay is tiny and narrow. The waves were intimidating!

Further along the trail the waves were crashing in this inlet!

At the rocky headland the path looped back to the carpark.

While taking in the view here we spotted a small backpack in the rocks across a chasm and speculated where it came from and who got it over there? Eventually a young woman in climbing gear appeared, maybe from a small cave we saw in the rocks. Then we noticed bolts in the rocks in several areas for climbing ropes and realized this must be a pretty good rock-climbing spot! What a view, but no option for mistakes with the crashing waves below!

A nice sunny day lay ahead of us so we decided to drive as far north as we can, until the road ends and one of the Great Walks of New Zealand begins (or ends). We packed a lunch and started north through Westport where we picked up some potato and pasta salads and took a short detour into gold and coal mining territory to explore some walks there. The first stop was Chasm Creek Walkway, along Chasm Creek. It is the bed of a railway that serviced the mines in the area in the late 1800’s. A nice wide track!

The track led to a short tunnel coated with moss and a curtain of water droplets falling down the entrance.

The tunnel opened to a bridge that is under construction so the walk ended there, just one mile round trip, but a few glimpses of the river that the creek flows into.

We drove further along the rural road to the next walk, Charming Creek Walkway, again a walk along an old railway bed that until 1958 serviced a coal mine.

Charming Creek lived up to it’s name, flowing through the rain forest past old mining equipment, rusting in the bush.

Reader boards describing the mining equipment and the infrastructure gave lots of information. The train that took the coal from the mine to the processing and shipping area back in the day was housed in a shed, no longer in use.

We walked along the creek for a short way, then returned to the parking area and pulled the little grill out and grilled some sausages to enjoy with our salads! We packed up an continued up the road along the coast to our final destination.

We stopped briefly at a huge empty beach. There are no signs to dissuade you from swimming, but it’s common knowledge that swimming just about anywhere on the west coast is extremely dangerous! Rip tides, undertows, cold water, huge waves, maybe sharks? We don’t even dip our toes in the water!

As we approached Karamea, the last town before the end of the road we passed farm paddocks on the flat land along the coast, carved from the native forest. These Nikau palms were spared the axe and stand at the edge of the forest.

The palm are usually surrounded by dense bush, they really stand out here!

We finally reached the campground at the end of the road and looked around.

The Heaphy Track crosses the northwest corner of the South Island and follows ancient Maori trails that led to the Pounamu (Greenstone) gathering areas on the west coast.

We made it back home in 2.5 hours to enjoy a nice sunset!

Today was a relax and recuperate day. I worked on the website, Robert took a walk up and down the steep driveway to compensate for our 10 hours of sitting on the train the last two days! I thought about the earthquake that Christchurch experienced on Feb. 22, 2011. A 6.3 quake that has been considered an aftershock of the 7.1 quake that hit the same area 0n Sept. 4, 2010. The 2011 quake was more deadly, killing 185 people and further damaging buildings that were weakened in the 2010 quake. Among the many Airbnb’s we have stayed at, 2 are hosted by people who lost their houses in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and had to relocate. In the 13 years since the fateful day many buildings in Christchurch have been restored, many have been torn down and new buildings erected, and some are still languishing, waiting for insurance claims to be settled, or abandoned in frustration. Near the main bus interchange in city central are a few of the derelict buildings.

Decrepit now, these buildings still display the turn of the century architectural details that are usually lost with urban renewal.

We were told early in our visit that we would probably experience some earthquake activity during our 6 month stay. We are happy to say we have not, yet!

We had an early morning, packing and heading across the street to the Z gas station for Flat-White-Naked-Takeaway’s (that’s Kiwi speak for to-go double espresso coffee with steamed milk, no sugar, very little foam!). Then a stroll under the colorful sunrise to the train station to board our scenic train to return to Greymouth on the west coast.

A rather balmy morning.

We’re not in Scenic Plus class this trip, just regular class, but we had finished off the Afghan dinner for breakfast and didn’t need the cafe car today!

Back through the beautiful scenery to Arthur’s Pass where again about half the passengers left the train to board busses to other scenic stops.

The 5 hour trip finished at about 2pm in Greymouth where we collected the car and found the retail fish shop next to Westfleet Seafood on the wharf of the Grey River. With fresh and frozen fish in hand we continued shopping at the local grocery store to stock up then headed up the coast to our Airbnb.

A wonderful dinner of grilled fish, flavored rice and a fresh salad to finish off a great day!

A whole day in Christchurch (Chch!) to wander around like tourists! We still have our bus cards so we took off to downtown Christchurch, to the Botanic Garden!

Autumn is here, in leaf color anyway!

We had a little lunch at the Riverside Market and caught a bus out to Sumner Beach about a half hour away at the inlet to Avon River Estuary.

Sumner Beach with a sea cave!

Also a restaurant with Bluff Oysters! Finally in season! And a 2 for 1 special!