February 2, 2026
The morning was heavily overcast with occasional sprinkles. We drove into town and decided to visit The National Kiwi Centre. We spent a couple of hours indoors viewing different varieties of fish, turtles, frogs, huge eels, and two kiwi birds. We were there for the morning eel feeding, and I had the opportunity to feed and pet the eels. Many of the eels in the tank were 80 to 100 years old.
Next came the kiwi feeding. The two kiwi birds had been hiding earlier in the day, but they popped out after the food trays were filled. One of the birds became quite active and was hopping and jumping back and forth.
Afterwards we visited the New World supermarket across the street and stocked up on food for the next few days. Then we returned to the kiwi centre one more time to watch the noon eel and kiwi feeding.
We drove back to our cabin, had sandwiches for lunch, and then returned to Greymouth to swap out the rental car. The new car was ready for us just as we arrived. It was exactly the same model and color as the old car, so I was glad to be able to keep the hybrid. We did end up getting a discount of a few days off of the rental car price as compensation for all of the trouble.
The weather in Greymouth was partly cloudy and better than in Hokitika where a storm was approaching from the south. We drove to the nearby town of Kumara to do some local sightseeing. We took a short hike to Londonderry Rock, a huge glacial erratic. It was a nice walk through the moss covered trees and ferns inside the rain forest.
Next we went on another short hike to an old 1930's swimming pool site.
Nearby, I went on the Taylors Hill Walk, which was a short loop trail that climbed to a nice view of the river valley below.
We returned to the cabin and grilled ribeye steaks for dinner.
I spent some time watching the local farm animals that were roaming around in their pens directly across from our cabin.
There was no sunset or glow worm viewing for us since it started raining shortly before dark.
Good that the car issue got resolved – this is an annoyance no one needs on vacation.