Heaphy track and down to Greymouth!

Hithhiking to the start of the heaphy track was harder than I expected. It took me about 5 rides to get to the nearest town, Collingwood from Takaka. I began walking on the road that lead to the beginning of the track. Nearly all of the cars I saw were going in the direction I came from. After a while a really nice guy named Warren showed up and gave me a lift even though he wasn't really headed in that direction. Now I could begin my walk down to the west coast. On the track I met some good people that I could go along with. I did walk a fair bit by my self and I liked it. It gave me time to think about all sorts of things. The scenery was good when I gained some altitude, and the heaphy track showed me a different landscape that I hadn't seen before. As I came closer to the sea I heard something, a rumbling sound. At first I thought it was thunder, but when the sea became visible it was obvious that the noise came from the waves. I have never seen so powerful waves in my life!

When I had finished the track I joined four Australian climbers. We spent the day together and saw some limestone arches and other stuff. The funny thing was, after four days of walking we spent the rest of the day doing the same thing. It felt good though because we didn't have to carry our backpacks. All of us were pretty hungry when we arrived in Karamea, the town we stayed the night in, so we ate dinner in a bar. The meal tasted delicious! Probably because it was, but I think also because of eating out in the woods for quite some time.

I carried on south and finally arrived in Greymouth after spending one night in Westport. On my way to Greymouth I got picked up by a guy named Patrick and his Girlfriend. They showed me the so called 'Pancake rocks'. Limestone rocks formed by time and they were flat, like pancakes. When we were about to leave we picked up another hitchhiker, Ole from Germany. It was very nice meeting these nice people.

Right now I'm in a hostel and working for my accommodation and taking a break from traveling, which believe me can be tiring. A good thing is that I get some experience which can be useful in the future.