First stop on the drive south today was Shantytown just outside of Greymouth centre. In their own words it is “a living monument to the hardy pioneers who battled through harsh conditions, rugged landscape and extreme climate in the most challenging of the 19th century gold rushes”.
The village that is made up of 30 restored heritage buildings was fascinating. Each building was from the west coast, and built during the 1860s gold rush era. They were all carefully transported here, and contained authentic antique pieces, including photos and stories of their owners from that period.
We even had a trip on their restored steam train (which was built in Glasgow).
After lunch we jumped in the van and started our journey south into Glacier country! The Alps were stunning on this clear day, and the drive was a scenic one…we were thanking our lucky stars for over a week of rain-free weather (which unfortunately is set to change in a couple of days).
We arrived into Franz Josef village at 3:30pm and checked into the Rainforest Retreat camp ground, a picturesque site with great views up to the mountains.
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