We left the motel in Hanmer Springs, took a chance and left the hood down and headed towards the west coast. There were three route options today, but they all headed over the Lewis Pass, past Maruia Springs to Springs Junction, an hour or so down the road from Hamner, and where there is a conveniently located and welcome coffee stop, after a pretty cool run so far this morning. From here we could either take the direct route to Greymouth via Reefton, could take a detour north through Maruia to near Murchison and Inangahua and then out to the coast, or a third option heading out to Cape Foulwind on the coast, and with either of the latter options, then travelling down the coast line, past Punakaiki Rocks into Greymouth. We chose the latter route, via Cape Foulwind, and were pursued the entire way by Dawn and Graeme Judge in their MGB. Dawn wanted to go to Cape Foulwind to see the lighthouse - she is attracted to lighthouses (appropriate for someone called Dawn?) And, surprise, surprise, Paul Walbran found a fourth option; using Silver Fern Rally stage tracks!

Next stop was Reefton, famous for being the first town in NZ to receive electricity and first town in the southern Hemisphere to have electric street lighting. The electricity was generated by the Reefton Power Station. We stopped and looked around the appropriately named Hall where all the tests/demonstrations of electricity were carried out, ('Oddfellows Hall'). A brief explanation about the Oddfellows movement from Rex Benns and then on to Inangahua, scene of the 1968 earthquake disaster - three people died in the earthquake and 70% of the dwellings in the town were rendered 'inhospitable'. Only 42 years ago, yet the event is largely forgotten today.

And so, on to Cape Foulwind, named such by Captain Cook after the conditions his ship encountered, and to Tauranga Bay, a seal breeding colony and where there is a café overlooking the coastline, which we visited on the way down to the National Rally in Wanaka, four years earlier. Despite the region's name and reputation for rough weather, for the second time we visited the popular café, it was warm and sunny. A clamber up a hill after lunch to access the lighthouse and satisfy Dawn's interest - her hobby is painting lighthouses - and then we turned towards the south and Greymouth. Entering the outskirts of Greymouth, the grey clouds which had increasingly been turning black during the afternoon delivered what we knew was coming. Although only two or three kms form our motel in Greymouth, this was not the type of rain you tolerated for even two or three kms. Fortunately for us, right opposite the spot when the heavens opened there was a deserted garage with a former forecourt canopy which provided shelter whilst I practiced the lost art of erecting an MGB hood.

DAY FIVE - Greymouth to Christchurch via Lake Coleridge

It rained heavily all night but amazingly the next morning arrived with clearing, blue skies. We all headed off towards Arthur's Pass, some via Dobson and the historic Brunner Mine Site, the scene of this country's worst industrial accident (65 miners - approx half the underground mining workforce at the mine - were killed in an underground explosion in March 1896. This mining site is one of the most moving historic sites in NZ, in my opinion. The story of the normally tranquil pit ponies fiercely refusing to return down the mine the morning of the disaster - kicking out and panicking so wildly that they had to have their heads covered over and be lead into the mine - all of course to die within an hour or so of returning into the mine. And the loss of 65 miners' lives and the effects on the small community at the time is all very well researched and very moving. It is well worthwhile taking the time when you visit to read the very well presented and informative information provided for visitors, and walk around the mine site. The west coast was, indeed, a tough place and tough environment in which to live only 100 years ago.

From the Buller Mine site our route took us via Moana and Lake Brunner to Arthur's Pass and Porters Pass. After Porters Pass a few gravel enthusiasts (Clive & Helen Holloway in their Avis Rally Car, Paul & Bronwyn Walbran, Sue & Ernie Martin, Laurie & Glenys Robertson and ourselves) headed right at Lake Lyndon towards the Rakaia River and Lake Coleridge. At Lake Coleridge we headed west, alongside the Lake and beyond to the remote, wilderness region at the foot hills of the Southern Alps and to the headwaters of the Harper and Wilberforce Rivers. A wonderfully remote and scenically utterly spectacular part of NZ - the colours of the Rakaia River with the glacial silts giving it and other rivers in the region that attractive turquoise colour, the magnificence of the nearby mountain range already with some snow on the southerly exposed summits, the remoteness and the sheer clarity of the air. Probably my favourite spot in NZ. Add to that some extremely smooth gravel roads and no traffic, throw Paul Walbran into the mix…and guess what follows!! (Answer - a few MGs which were not going to do very well in the National Rally Concours the next day)!

Geoff Broadhead