About 4 hours southwest of Abel Tasman National Park lies Greymouth. A quick glance around reveals its claim as the biggest city on the west coast doesn't really mean much, but after days in the backcountry, we were pretty happy in any place with a real bed and hot showers. The old mining settlement on the Grey River is home to a few shops showcasing quality jade carving. The green stone is highly prized in Maori culture, and though occurring naturally in this region, trade and the working of it is tightly regulated in New Zealand.
One thing we've enjoyed here is the availability and variety of craft beers. Restaurants and pubs around New Zealand prominently display their allegiance to different breweries, and you can be sure going into one that the full range from that brewery will be on tap. Monteith's is one of the most popular, and Greymouth just the happens to be the home of the original brewery. At first, the 30 minute tour seems a little pricey at 20 NZ dollars (= 10 pounds or 15 €), but then you get a 12 oz. pour of a brand new beer, tickets for an additional 3 glasses on-site, and a coupon for a free pint off-site. The brewers are experimenting in 3500 liter batches, and as visitors to the brewery, we got to try the new india pale ale and a truly fantastic apricot hefeweizen. Their black beer and winter ale also were quite tasty, and Monteith's Original – the oldest recipe and still the biggest seller – gets a thumbs up from us, too. After all the free alcohol, it's a good thing the in-house cafe also serves hearty fare like a luxurious seafood chowder.
Three hours further south of Greymouth is glacier country. There are two to choose from – Franz Josef and Fox. We had booked many months in advance and were very eager to hop on a helicopter and be whisked up onto the blue ice. Unfortunately, just as we started to suit up, the heli-hike was cancelled due to low cloud cover and poor visibility. We were gutted! The consolation prize – a free walk to the face of Franz Josef glacier – was much less impressive so we washed away our tears with a visit to the hot pools in town. Later, we blew some of our substantial refund on a lovely dinner of New Zealand lamb shanks and stayed to cheer on the national rugby team in a 22-0 defeat of their rivals, the Australian Wallabies. The All Blacks team are the pride of New Zealand, capturing the most recent Rugby World Cup in 2011, and it was great to see their awesome skills and watch them perform the haka (a traditional Maori warrior challenge) on their home territory.
One thing we've enjoyed here is the availability and variety of craft beers. Restaurants and pubs around New Zealand prominently display their allegiance to different breweries, and you can be sure going into one that the full range from that brewery will be on tap. Monteith's is one of the most popular, and Greymouth just the happens to be the home of the original brewery. At first, the 30 minute tour seems a little pricey at 20 NZ dollars (= 10 pounds or 15 €), but then you get a 12 oz. pour of a brand new beer, tickets for an additional 3 glasses on-site, and a coupon for a free pint off-site. The brewers are experimenting in 3500 liter batches, and as visitors to the brewery, we got to try the new india pale ale and a truly fantastic apricot hefeweizen. Their black beer and winter ale also were quite tasty, and Monteith's Original – the oldest recipe and still the biggest seller – gets a thumbs up from us, too. After all the free alcohol, it's a good thing the in-house cafe also serves hearty fare like a luxurious seafood chowder.
Three hours further south of Greymouth is glacier country. There are two to choose from – Franz Josef and Fox. We had booked many months in advance and were very eager to hop on a helicopter and be whisked up onto the blue ice. Unfortunately, just as we started to suit up, the heli-hike was cancelled due to low cloud cover and poor visibility. We were gutted! The consolation prize – a free walk to the face of Franz Josef glacier – was much less impressive so we washed away our tears with a visit to the hot pools in town. Later, we blew some of our substantial refund on a lovely dinner of New Zealand lamb shanks and stayed to cheer on the national rugby team in a 22-0 defeat of their rivals, the Australian Wallabies. The All Blacks team are the pride of New Zealand, capturing the most recent Rugby World Cup in 2011, and it was great to see their awesome skills and watch them perform the haka (a traditional Maori warrior challenge) on their home territory.
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