5reasons to love GREYMOUTH
Soak up the southern charm of this historic town
The South Island’s wild West Coast is a scenic wonderland with the historic town of Greymouth right at its heart.
1How to get there
You can take a car from Christchurch, on the east coast, or from Wanaka in the south, but the Ginger and I came via the TranzAlpine train, which I couldn’t recommend more highly. We picked up a rental car at the small but busy Greymouth railway station, then made our way to the Coleraine Motel, a couple of kilometres away. I’m not generally a fan of the Kiwi motel. I’ve stayed in too many dark, dingy, cold, horrible holes, but this isn’t one of them, with a large, airy studio room, a bright spacious bathroom – with spa tub – plus a decent kitchenette. Ten out of 10.
2What to do
We were in town for just 24 hours (to make the train trip back to Christchurch the following day), but I would recommend staying longer if you want to fit in even half of what this region has to offer. First off, we headed south to the heritage settlement of Shantytown. Kids love this place with its old-fashioned main street, steam-engine train that winds up through the bush to a wood mill, and its insight into the very hard lives of the settlers who came here from England, Ireland and Scotland. Mill workers were tough as old boots and thin as string beans, and miners were much the same, working long hours for not much money in a place with even more rain than they had back home!
3What to buy
A short drive down the road from Shantytown, we stopped in at Garth Wilson’s pounamu studio. Of Ngati Mahaki and Ngate Waewae descent, Garth collects his own greenstone and carves every piece himself, all of it beautiful. I thought the Ginger looked a bit green when I fell in love with a gorgeous tiki – and I realised why when I checked the price. Um, out of my range. But most things here weren’t, I’d just gone for the piècede
résistance. Which I resisted. But Garth’s wife Jo helped me find something that suited my budget and my heart’s desire, plus gave us the heads-up on a great walking track close to their house.
4Hit the trail
Woods Creek Track came with Garth’s description of being like something out of an Indiana Jones film. It has a swing bridge, tunnels and caves, and if you’re up for a few stairs, you – and the kids – will love it. It’s only a kilometre long, but through beautiful bush full of sluices dug by gold miners trying to strike it lucky. Back on the coast, it’s also worth trying to find a spot to walk along the beach, preferably at sunset. Garth reckons if you take the time, you’ve got a pretty good chance of finding your own greenstone. Brunner Mine Site is another must – a half-hour walk around the scene of New Zealand’s biggest single workplace accident back in 1896.
5What else?
I thought Greymouth looked like the sort of place where you’d find a perfect cheese scone, but after two duds, I gave up. Fish and chips and whitebait patties at Monteith’s Brewery proved to be far more successful. And I’d planned on having a stack of pancakes at the Punakaiki Pancake Café, but we spent so much time looking at the stunning Pancake Rocks, and dodging the sea spray from the famous blowholes, that we gave them a miss in order to get back to Greymouth and make our train. I love this part of our world.