We woke up to a cloudy day and headed south to Greymouth, this town is the biggest on the west coast and we were hoping it would be better than Westport. Not much to write about Greymouth, and we decided to head east to go over Lewis pass to Hanmer Springs and 'Thrill Seekers Canyon'. On our way we stopped in Reefton which was the first city in the Southern hemisphere to have street lights. I think that was the last 'first' they have had. It was very reminiscent of old mining towns we see in the states, we stopped long enough to watch part of a video on how the local strip mine is actually "helping" the natural environment, check out some local walks and eat lunch. While the town had an interesting history and having panned for gold in Sumptner Oregon we made Reefton a quick stop. The lady at the I site showed us a picture of Mt Haast that is close by and only a 3 hr hike to the summit. It was to late to do today, but the DOC campsite Marble Hill was close so we planned to do it in the morning.
On our drive to the camp site we kept our eyes peeled for Mt. Haast, but did not see any trail heads or signs. We were getting tired so may be we just missed it. The camp was in a beautiful valley, but close to the road. Along with Mt. Haast it had some other hikes close by.
Cooking dinner was an experience. As soon as we stepped out of the van we were swarmed by sandflys, the worst we have seen them since we landed in NZ. No amount of bug spray would stop them, so we were forced to eat our dinner in the van. Even with bug spray on they were hovering around, crawling on glasses, silverware, everything! Dinner in the van was yummy, we tried a new meal, chicken in red curry!
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