Punakaiki and Charming Creek Walks

You might get the impression that all we do is vacation here but that is not completely true. We finished with some of our orientation this past week by driving the beautiful coastal road down To Greymouth, which is our primary referral hospital for those not needing tertiary care. I was great to meet some of the staff there but most importantly to have a clear idea of what transferring a patient along this coastal road of 100 KM actually entails. It is nothing like shooting down I 70 in the states. First of all you do not see these signs along the way.

The coastal road was beautiful and on the way back we had the chance to do The Porarari/ Punakaiki Loop Track, an outstanding 3 hour wlk along one beautiful river gorge, over a ridge and down another.

Yesterday we were favored again with a beautiful morning, It being Saturday we drove a bit North to the Charming Creek Walk, another river gorge along the Ngakawau river turning up Charming creek. The walk follows an old private railroad bed used in the last century for mining and timber. It passes some pretty spectacular waterfalls,and has a nice suspension bridge crossing of the river.

This coming week we are fortunate to have a full week in the clinic before my first weekend of call. Now that we have a bit of a handle on the computer system and the health care network, things should go fine, after all the health conditions and practice are the same as we are used to. But since it is a sunny Sunday, we are off to a coastal walk and perhaps hear some folk music at the Drifter's cafe in Granity.