December 24, 1991
To Charleston
We began the day as planned, hunting for ointment and my lost glasses. Success on both counts! My glasses were not at the information center after all, which was very disheartening - I all but gave up and started resigning myself to a vacation of reduced vision, but decided to check the supermarket, where we found them waiting to be claimed. Euphoria!
After perusing every conceivable option in the downtown area, we settled on a coffee shop - where I had a meat pie and fish patty and Rachael had two desserts to start off the day. We finally departed Greymouth about 10 for the north coast. It almost immediately became highly scenic. For the first 25k the route hugs the shoreline, giving us constant and frequently lovely views of the coastline and the Tasman Sea.
We enjoyed a midmorning break on the shore shortly before turning inland for 20k of intermixed farmland and bush. The route returned to the coast shortly before Papernoa National Park, the day's primary destination. This is an awe-inspiring park. We spent about 6 hours here, sampling some of its many attractions. First, we walked out to the point at Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks and blowholes - this is a section of the coast where the limestone rock forms odd, pancake stackish formation, and where the waves pound into inland andsubterranean chambers. The whole formation is extremely lovely. We were forunate to have arrived at high tide on a day with good visibility.
Next, we set off on a 3 hour trek which took us upstream along the bank of the Porarora River, overland to the Punakaiki Basin and back down the bank of that river. It was totally entertaining. The walk along the Porarora took us on a narrow, winding track through dense palm and tree fern jungle. The visual texture of the forest was wonderful and full of mystery. The overland stretch was often soggy, with semisecure footing provided by a trail of short lengths of tree fern trunk. At one point Rachael stepped into a hidden gap in the path and immersed her whole foot (and biking shoe) into the mud.
When we reached the Punakaiki, Rachael sensibly enough decided to rinse off her shoe in the river. Neither of us was aware yet that we would soon need to ford the entire, knee deep river, and that the opposite bank was also mud-endowed; so that shortly both of our shoes would be soaked and filthy again. Neither of us was at all sure we were on the right road - we ended up in a cow infested pasture - but there seemed no alternative. Later, after checking out the trail guide, we saw that this was in fact the right route.
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At the cafe by the information center we had a light Christmas Eve meal - I had a bowl of spinach soup and delicious rye bread, and Rachael had hummus and two more desserts - four in one day, for a new record! Amazingly, as we were leaving I found that I had lost my glasses again. Retracing my steps, I found them waiting for me at the souveneer shop.
With only a few hours of daylight left, we headed north on the35k ride to the motor camp in Charleston, stopping briefly along the way for a half hour walk down the Truman Track to a lovely beach rimmed by wierdly sculpted sandstone cliffs. In spite of a few hils, we got in to the camp about 9, in time to take in a light snack and beer at the Charleston Pub. Returning afterwards to our cabin, we heard a group of carollers singing in the street.
Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 570 miles (917 km)
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