Day 11 – Hanmer Springs to Greymouth

Last night we took one more dip in the thermal pools and this time made it into the hottest one. I lasted about 5 minutes before I thought I would boil. In the morning we headed across country through the mountains to the West Coast. In the states there are Sobriety Check points and billboards warning against drunk driving. Here, there are “Refreshing & Reviving” check points which supply free coffee to drivers who are sleepy. It seems that drunk driving is not a problem, but falling asleep at the wheel is. We’ve seen the free coffee stops almost daily. On today’s drive, I was overwhelmed with the “sleepeeeez” but since I don’t drink coffee, I opted for M&Ms.

Greymouth is a quiet little fishing town. The Grey River and the Tasman Sea meet here. We took a long walk along the coast and through the harbor. At the holiday park, there is a bouncy pillow. I hate the bouncy pillow because I had a bad bounce when I tried it on our last trip. However, Matt talked me into giving it another try. Final outcome: I STILL don’t like bouncy pillows!

The last bit of exploration took us to the old graveyard outside of town. The oldest headstone that I found was from 1817. I also came across James who had been “cruelly murdered” in 1898, quite a few 18 and 19 year olds who had died in WWI and WW2 and an “accidental drowning in the Greymouth River.” It might be weird, but I always learn a lot about a town from its graveyard.