Bus journey From Kaikoura to Greymouth via Nelson

Anne and I have spent the last 2 days travelling on the Magic Bus, which to be honest sounded a little dull but a neccessary evil! I could not have been more wrong! The bus journeys were full of amazing scenery (check out the album on my facebook page) and we stopped many times along the way for photo opportunities and short walks along the beach etc. The trip to Nelson was mainly hills and rivers which were stunning - I did consider  having a nap but I didn't want to miss out on any of the scenery. Some of the photos I took were from the bus window! When we arrived at Nelson we hiked up a huge hill for 30 minutes and had brilliant views of the city and also the surrounding hills. The summit of the hill had a plaque which said "The Centre of New Zealand". The bus journey from Nelson to Greymouth was even more amazing - and we had stunning weather which the driver (Nick) said was very unsual for the West Coast where it often rains! Bright blue cloudlesss skies made the drive along the west coastline extremely beautiful and the sea was so turquoise that It could have been the meditterrean! We walked along the coastal path and came across a natural seal colony which was lovely. The beaches were golden, stretched for miles and were deserted. No tourism or tackiness -just pure, unspoilt natural beauty. On the bus again, we went to see the famous "Pancake Rocks" which are  thought to be 37 million years old! They were truly stunning and I took far too many pictures of them. When  we arrived in Greymouth, we discovered it was an old mining town, still recovering from the death of 25 miners 18 months ago and whose bodies are still trapped in the mine! We had a bus meal (optional) to a restaurant where we could try all the local beers and have NZ lamb steak steak and beef. The meat was delicious but I don't like Beer so I left that to the others. It turns out that Nick, our bus driver, has a girlfriend in Ely so he is moving to Cambridgeshire in the summer!! We had a good chat with him about Cambridge.						e
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