Greymouth

"It's not an adventure until something goes wrong."
                                                    -Yvon Chouinard

Happy for the moment.

After returning from the holiday bach island we had a day or two to spend back at the Van Dyke's house. We arranged to work for a guy in Greymouth. Believing we had a guarantee we left Nelson on March 4th and headed to Lylle to camp for the night. Lylle is a historic gold mining town that has been since abandoned, apparently all the gold is gone. The campground delicately lies on the side of the highway in damp grassy clearing surrounded by NZ bush, right next to the river, and in a giant gorge. This doesn't sound so bad on paper, but in fact is the perfect recipe for SAND FLIES! Our camping experience at Lylle was very uneventful because we spend most of the time in our tent getting away from the sand flies.  Sand flies are like small mosquitoes that bite and leave extremely itchy and red bumps that stay itchy for weeks. The man camping next to us noticed our misery while trying to cook dinner while being barraged by roughly a million sand flies. He came over with some Bushman's Sand Fly repellent cream. We had bug repellent but it seemed rude to deny the generous offer and besides he didn't speak English very well. The cream got us through dinner but we had no choice but to retreat to the tent for an early night of reading, talking, and playing cards. There might have been some drinking of wine that night as well.



To give you a mental picture:  there were so many sandflies trying to find a way in by ramming the top of the tent it sounded like it was raining. No exaggeration, we have it recorded on video. We woke up and left as early as we could, eating our breakfast in the car while driving with the windows down to blow the sneaky sand flies that got in our car, out. We gladly put Lylle and the Sandflies in our rearview mirror.

We arrived in the town of Westport, our first experience of the West Coast of the South Island. Expecting a response from the burger man in Greymouth by now we made our way to the library to check our email. No emails besides Linked In notifications(delete), American Dietetic Newsletters(save but don't care), and spam(delete). Thinking this guy was busy and just didn't have time we bought some groceries and headed to a coastal camp site called Gentle Annie's.

The view from Gentle Annie's was nice but yet again infested with Sand Flies. However, the ability to shower makes all the difference in the world. The next morning we checked our email and still no email from the burger man, we are starting to feel a little anxious and worried. We spent sometime on the coast near Westport then did the only logical thing we could think of, head to Greymouth.


On the way to Greymouth, we stopped to look at the Pancake Rocks.

We arrived in Greymouth and proceeded to go about our usual endeavors, Library = free wifi = check email. Still no email from Burger Man. Well, time for a new plan. We spent most of the time in Greymouth wandering around not really sure what to do and feeling stuck and a bit stressed at this point.


Remember that Devon and I had left Nelson under the assumption we would have a place to work, stay, and eat at for free. Now that the host will not return our emails we are stuck in a town, spending money we had not budgeted or planned on spending, and using up hard saved money on essentials instead of fun things. That's the thing about traveling and life, sometimes things just don't go the way they are planned. However, Devon and I were feeling pretty down at this point and our new predicament was only adding unneeded stress on the trip and our relationship. Coincidentally we started becoming rather home sick and missing all the comforts of home: family, friends, food, hot showers, and a soft bed. Usually Devon and I spend up to 3 days camping in between hosts. This allows us to be on our own schedule and travel between host locations. We now found ourselves on Tuesday the 6th of  March in a town with no host to stay, spending money we didn't have budgeted, and with our next work host not until the next Tuesday the 13th.

After debated for sometime the decision was made to spend the night in the car to save money. I (Eddie) was hesitant, worried, and stressed about the decision, yet found myself unable to spend anymore money then was needed. Devon on the the other hand was much more at ease and profoundly less worried about the situation than I. Obviously, my concerns were mainly for our safety most of all. Being in a town that was unfamiliar to both of us with no real knowledge of safe vs unsafe parts of town. I also was uncomfortable with the feeling of being watched by someone while we slept. We decided to "sleep" in the front seats to make it appear we were merely "resting." On top of that, I was worried about incurring a $200 fine for freedom camping in a vehicle that does not have a self-contained toilet unit. We drove around for awhile until we found what we could tell was a good neighborhood and parked the car for the night. I mentioned that I would be on edge looking at every passing car with suspicion and probably wasn't going to be able to sleep. Being a caring girlfriend and concerned with the fact that my edge would keep me from sleep, Devon tried to ease my tensions and comforting me. Usually Im fairly receptive to comfort and encouragement but this time being tired, grumpy, stressed, on edge, sleep deprived, and home sick...I didn't want to be helped. However, before I knew it I was fast asleep and snoring. Devon was in shock, she could not believe that I was worried beyond comfort one moment and fast asleep and snoring the next.

If their is one thing on this planet that Devon Giuliani hates more than anything, its snoring. Usually I am not a snorer at all, but under these circumstances I was sitting in a drivers seat with my head back as well as battle allergies that particularly effect the nasal passages. Its safe to say that I got about 3 hours of moderate sleep in that night, while Devon on the other hand, had practically 0.

We laughed about it in the morning and went to the library hoping to find good news.  We found nothing.

We needed to figure out what we were going to do for the next week.  As a last resort we signed up for CouchSurfing hoping someone would want to host us for free on short notice.  The search results for Greymouth returned 3 hosts available in the area. The only one that seemed like a good match was a young couple that recently had moved to Greymouth. Excitedly and with no other real options we emailed them hoping for a quick response.

We got a response!  But they couldn't take us till Friday and it was only Wednesday.  We needed to find a place for the next 2 nights.  There were no campsites in or near Greymouth and we weren't going to sleep in the car again, so we resorted to paying for a night at a hostel.

The hostel offered a grassy spot for our tent for 14 bucks a person. Not a great deal but we thought it was a lot better than sleeping in the car and by now both of us were severely sleep deprived bordering on insanity. We thought at least tonight we will get a decent nights sleep..........we were wrong...big time.

That night would turn out to be one of the windiest nights of my life and as we would find out later one of the windiest ever recorded on the West Coast. To add to the misery a very unpleasant and odd odor filled the windy air that night as if the hurricane gusts weren't enough. Into the night Devon decided to retreat to the car in the parking lot to escape the onslaught of the wind. With more space in the tent to spread out and with the enlistment of ear plugs I was also helpful our new strategy would yield sleep. Wrong again. The wind was so intense it easily over came the noise blocking power of ear plugs and easily swayed the car back and forth keeping Devon from sleep as well. As the saying goes, when it rains...it pours.

We managed to make breakfast somehow and it was then that we realized what the horrible smell was in cahoots with the wind that night. It was the smell of burning coal. We both realized we have no experience with the smell of coal let alone burning coal. It was a bad first impression, a horrible acquaintance, and we did not enjoy its company.  To add to the misery, I had forgotten to take my invaluable and extremely useful microfiber towel off the drying line. I'm sure it dried quickly in the wind but also was no where to be found that next morning.

We were grumpy. No sugar coating. Really grumpy.

That day we went on walking track called the Queen Elizabeth Point. It was right on the beach and had beautiful views of the ocean.  It was our third time walking that same trail (nothing else to do in Greymouth).

We considered sleeping on the beach that night since we were not going back to the hostel or sleeping in the car. After walking the track we walked down the beach looking for a cave to sleep in and we found one. It was almost perfect. It was far enough away that we wouldn't be bothered by the wind or policemen. The only hitch in our idea was the security of our un-guarded car. At the end of the day actually night (it was almost midnight) we ended up pitching the tent right next to the car in a grassy parking area a stones through from the beach.

We fell asleep right away.  We didn't care about cops anymore.  We got up at 6am before the sun, took our tent down, and sat in our car and watched the sunrise.

Walking the trail one last time and then finally headed to Rachel and Scotts, the CouchSurf host's you had graciously taken us in for the weekend.

Out of boredom I constructed this rough shade structure from drift wood.

The beach provided some beautiful sights despite our despair.

Plenty of time to do some reading.

Some of our readers may be familiar with couch surfing as a term but we are actually referring to a Website called Couch Surfing. The concept is the same, its a networking site that connects travelers to willing hosts. Instead of working for room and board it is provided for free but usually lasts only a couple nights at most. A night or two is all Devon and I wanted and needed to recharge our spirits.


Staying with Rachel and Scott was a major blessing and they were awesome hosts. Unfortunately, Devon and I had to endure one more night of little sleep because of the neighbors having a house party, thousands of miles away and the all to familiar sounds of a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night in Chico somehow managed to find us in New Zealand.

Rachel and Scott provided everything and more that we could have possibly needed or wanted from a host. Rachel always had h'orderves or snacks at the ready. She made excellent meals and even treated us to a nice sit down restaurant dinner with beer, wine, and dessert. Devon and I really connected well and felt like  we had been friends with Rachel and Scott for years. We even spent a whole day watching movies, one thing that Devon and I have definitely missed. We hadn't watched a movie for 2 months!  It was a great day. They also took us to the Hokitika Wild Foods Festival. We ate all kinds of bugs and animals.  We all felt a little funny after that morning.  We left Rachel and Scott's house happy and rested on the 11th. We really hope that we will meet up with Rachel and Scott in the future, possibly in California!

Rested and recharged we camped two nights at Goldsbourogh. Naturally, it rained all night the first night, but luckily the tent held up well under the pressure and we stayed dry. After camping we headed to the Kawhaka Lodge, owned and operated by Marge and Tony Allen.

Scott and Rachel

Nomming on some Hu Hu Grub. For the record, Devon's was much smaller than mine.

They told us to hold the head and bite the body off!  Yes, they were alive....

Out of a weird mixture of instinct and reaction Devon through down the head of her grub instantly after biting its head off. Notice it between Rachel's sandals.

Cider, Crocodile on the left and kangaroo on the right.

One of the not so "wild" food that we ate.  A real Belgium waffle.

The Festival also serves as a giant costume party.

Rachel and Rebecca savoring some Jello-Cricket shooters

A common sign at the festival

Some folks got hitched at a ceremony during the festival. Congrats.

Rebecca having some home made moonshine!

I watched this fellow on the left take a shot of horse sperm....

MMM Whitebait sandwich!

Another tame food....mmmt thats a lot of bacon.

Before the snail...

...During the snail

That week at Greymouth was one of the most important weeks of our relationship.  We had all kinds of time to read, think, and reflect on our own character.  We learned so much about ourselves and each other; how we communicate, what are weaknesses are, what are strengths are, how we can be their for each other in times of weakness and use our strengths to benefit the other.  Even though it was a rough week, we are thankful for the experience and glad God turned it into much needed growth.