There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills (and Rivers)

January 23

Sam:

This morning we left our campsite in Greymouth to drive to a ghost town called Waiuta up a big gravel road in the mountains. The town was founded in 1908 because a group of 4 friends found some gold in that area and was totally abandoned by 1951. Most of the people who lived in Waiuta worked in the mines for gold and coal as their jobs. Eventually all the gold was gone, so everybody left to find new jobs. Most of the buildings are gone today but a few still remain. We walked around for about an hour, looking at the remaining buildings.

We got back in our camper to go to our next stop, Buller Gorge Adventure Park. In the park, the only way to get to any of the attractions is to cross a giant swingbridge to an island and then hiked for a few minutes to get to our first activity.

Charlotte:

We went panning for gold. We found a good amount of gold but not enough to make us rich, so we will just keep it as a souvenir. There were so many sandflies that we did not stay very long.

After that we rode a zip line over the gorge. It was so fun, comfortable, and awesome! We rode tandem, which meant two people go together. I rode with Mom and Dad and Sam rode together. I screamed at the end because we were going so fast and I didn’t know how we were going to stop!

Then we went back to our campervan to get to a campsite to sleep. Dad, Sam, and I saw a big waterfall where we saw a kayaker that went over the waterfall. It was crazy!

I made friends with a bird called a Weka that followed me across the parking lot. I named him George. Wekas they look like kiwis but the have a shorter beak. They seem like a combination of chicken, duck, and kiwi bird. They do not fly. They have wings, but they are tiny and located right behind their heads, kind of like a peacock but less elegant. I was so happy and speechless when it came right up to me!

Later, we had hot dogs for dinner, tried a bunch of New Zealand candy, and went to sleep.

January 24

Sam:

This morning we went to a place called Hope Saddle lookout on a big hill. Mom stayed in the camper while we went up the hill. On the very top of the hill was a GPS reference point to test if there were changes in the land formations.

Charlotte :

When we got to Nelson, we went in the Pic’s peanut butter factory, and we got to talk with Pic. He was fun to talk with. He asked me to show him my Canadian accent. We got to go on the tour for free. We learned a lot about making peanut butter. Sam and I even got to make peanut butter. It was very easy because there was a machine that we put peanuts in and then we twisted the handle. Out came delicious peanut butter!

Our tour guide was talking about how to make good peanut butter – all you need is peanuts and salt or just peanuts! Then he gave us some peanut butter and boysenberry jelly to try, as well as honey. I liked the boysenberry jelly so much we bought some, and we also bought some peanut butter.

There weren’t many camping spots in town, so we went to sleepover in a grocery store parking lot. We got Domino’s pizza for dinner.