Hi John,
I'm in Palmy north. Proably miles away from anywhere you would go!
Join up with the NZAstronomers on yahoo groups.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nzastronomers/ You will find heaps of people keen to go observing. Yes, we even have a couple of members in Greymouth.
As for beer... The proof will be in the tasting. It's a pointless arguement until you try Speights for yourself. Then all other (espicailly Aussie tooth beer) pales into insignificance.. But like anything you don't know what's best until you've tasted it. Gotta be Speights mate! Goto
http://www.speights.co.nz to get the mouth watering!
Cheers
Rob