The start to a NZ west coast excursion.

This was the start of a whirlwind tour of the west coast of the South Island, New Zealand. We squeezed about three weeks of traveling, activities, and sights into one week.

This is the Rakaia River at what is known as Rakaia Gorge. The water was so blue with glacial silting and the sky was so shockingly blue that day that my camera refused to filter the light properly.

Merino Sheep with a nice back drop. This was just prior to the summit of Arthur's Pass, one of three routes from the East Coast to the West Coast. This is what the majority of the west coast is like in the high country.

Going down Arthur's Pass towards Greymouth. Note the vegetation change.

A typical New Zealand bridge. There are high numbers of one lane bridges. Some are up to a mile long and have pull outs to accommodate unexpected meetings. This particular bridge is shared by cars, trains, bus traffic, foot traffic and the occasional sheep or cattle herd. Hence why speeding doesn't work here.

Out of Greymouth, heading towards Punakaiki.

Pancake Rocks and home of the famous Blow Holes. Unfortunately they were not blowing. The tide was out. The earth here is riddled with caves and vents that allow the ocean in. Wave action forces air and water out of the vents with extreme force making for spectacular geysers. Or so we were led to believe...because we didn't see it. "The tide waits for no man" by someone somewhere....

This is a Weka. It is a flightless, fearless bird about the size of a small chicken. I offended this particular Weka by evidently making seductive noises to his little lady hiding in the bush. He charged me, swore profusely, jumped up and bit me on the finger. Guess that will teach me to not flirt with another birds girl.

The sun setting into the Tasman Sea in Okarito.

We stayed in the house on the left. This is Okarito. This was definitely a nice sight to wake up to in the morning.
This was just the beginning.