36 hours in Greymouth

PETER MEECHAM/The Press

STACKED UP: Punakaiki is best known for the pancake-like rocks which gave it its name.

From the Montieth's brewery to Punakaiki, Greymouth is one of the most fascinating parts of New Zealand.

SATURDAY, 8.15AM: The TranzAlpine train slips out  of Christchurch at a sedate  pace as it heads across the  Canterbury Plains on its way  to Greymouth. Green  paddocks give way to  tussock and rock,  interrupted occasionally by  tunnels and viaducts that  teeter above startlingly blue  ice-fed rivers cutting through  the steep valleys below.

The view changes again into dense beech forest as it approaches Arthur's Pass, where the train stops long enough for a quick stretch of the legs before heading into the Otira tunnel.

It takes 13 minutes to get to the other side, so I grab a Monteith's from the cafe car and think about how much the miners who toiled on the tunnel all those decades ago would have appreciated a cold one if it had been available. We emerge on the West Coast where the higher rainfall makes the bush lusher and the river valleys wider.

2pm: After dropping my bag at The Ashley, a comfortable, modern hotel on the main road to Hokitika, I'm off to Punakaiki, the area's best-known tourist attraction. Kea Tours is operated by Matthew Lysaght, a former teacher with a well-researched interest in the area's history and before heading up the coast we do a short tour of the town which is prettier than I had expected, with most of its original architecture still intact and its picturesque fishing harbour surrounded by old weatherboard workers' cottages.

As we head up the coast, Lysaght points out where to head for bush walks up the valleys, shorter jaunts along the coast and the best spots for surfing, gathering mussels or surfcasting.

Although Punakaiki is best known for the pancake-like rocks which gave it its name, the sea is the star attraction as huge swells surge through narrow channels and explode into blowholes and caverns, their boom and thud shaking the ground. This is one attraction that actually improves when the weather gets rough.

6pm: After a full day of sightseeing I'm ready for a beer, so tag along on the evening tour of the famous Monteith's brewery.

We see the beer fermenting in giant, open-topped stainless steel vats, a great frothy pool of loveliness.

But the best is saved till last when we get to quaff Monteith's different brews in the tasting room, where we are allowed to play barman and pour our own glasses of their new cider. The brewery tour includes a taxi ride to one of several local pubs for dinner, which provides an easy way to experience the famous West Coast hospitality.

10pm: Arriving back at the Ashley, I'm surprised to hear jazz coming from the bar. Just Jazz, a local big band, is having a reunion and the place is jumping which makes for a great, if unexpected, end to my night in Greymouth.

Sunday, 8.30am: With last night's revelry still ringing in my ears, I head just out of town to On Yer Bike, where I'm suited up in wet weather gear for some quad biking. Although I initially find it more difficult than I'd expected, by the end I'm cursing that I cannot make the bike go faster as it careens down the muddy slopes.

11am: After the quad bike exertions I catch my breath at Shantytown, where old settler buildings have been relocated to recreate a miners' village.

Here you can try your hand at gold panning and I don't know whether they salt the soil with gold dust but everyone I see panning recovers a few tiny specks of the precious metal to take home. But I don't have time to stay and make my fortune, I have a date with a jet boat.

1pm: On the shingle banks of the Taramakau River I meet up with Bevan Sutherland who owns Jacksons Retreat Holiday Park and also operates the only commercial jet boating operation in the area.

The Taramakau is a braided river which cuts through shingle beds, making for plenty of the heart-stopping turns and twirls jet boats are famous for as we head up-river towards the mountains. The further we head inland the steeper the mountains rise on either side, meaning there are only two ways out - back the way we came, or by helicopter.

3.45pm: Sutherland dials up Precision Helicopters on his satellite phone and within a few minutes a chopper beats up the gorge to land on a shingle island. We pile in and head further up-river before starting what seems like a vertical climb up and over the crest of the alpine range. We head over farms and rivers, waving down to farmers gathering in their cows for milking and take in isolated crater lakes that have formed on the top of bush-clad hills.

4.30pm: I step off the chopper at Hokitika airport to wait for my flight back across the Southern Alps to Christchurch. It's a suitably spectacular end to a weekend in one of the most fascinating parts of the country and I'm already thinking of new adventures on my next visit.

Fact file

Where to stay: The Ashley Hotel,  74 Tasman St,  Greymouth,  www.hotelashley.co.nz  What to do: Monteith's brewery tours,  cnr Turumaha and  Herbert Sts, Greymouth,  ph (03) 768-4149,  www.monteiths.com/nz Kea Heritage Tours,  freephone 0800 532-868,  www.keatours.co.nz On Yer Bike, 511 SH6,  Greymouth, freephone  0800 ON YER BIKE  (0800 669-372),  www.onyerbike.co.nz Shantytown, Rutherglen  Rd, Paroa (10km south of  Greymouth),  0800 742-689,  www.shantytown.co.nz  West Coast Jet Boat  Tours, ph (03) 738-0474,  www.jacksons retreat.co.nz  Precision Helicopters,  ph 0272 293-516,  www.precision helicopters.com  How to get there: The TranzAlpine departs  Christchurch and  Greymouth daily,  www.tranzscenic.co.nz