TEACHER NOMAD: NEW ZEALAND DEC 19 - FRANZ JOSEF TO PUNAKAIKI

Nothing terribly interesting first thing this morning. We got up. Ate our cooked breakfast (it's come with every hotel we've stayed in so far - nice treat). We packed up and went outdoors and waited for the Intercity coach. A fairly large crowd gathered outside with us. Clearly, this was going to be a coach, not a smaller van. Franz Josef was cloudy again this morning. An extra day wouldn't have helped a helicopter tour.

The glacier this morning

We drove north along highway 6, which as I mentioned before, is the only highway that runs along New Zealand's south island west coast. Our first stop was at a tea shop in Harihari. That was pretty much all that was in Harihari.

Then, after a 1/2 hour break we went onto Hokitika. The road was remarkably dull. After the spectacular scenery we've seen, this wasn't eyeball popping. In all fairness the clouds were rather low and may have hidden the Southern Alps to our east. Hokitika is a seaside town on the Tasman sea. We had pies for lunch, walked around the town a bit. Wandered to the sea to have a peek. Then we had to get back on the bus after our 1/2 hour break.

The city center of Hokitika

Along the beach - amazing amount of driftwood here

After about 40 minutes we drove into Greymouth. This is the largest town we've seen in a while. More than half the passengers on the bus got off here. They were going to take the train from Greymouth to Christchurch. We were one of the few that stayed on the bus. The scenery got more interesting after Hokitika.

One of many rivers to the sea from the mountains

Wind off the Tasman Sea is fierce and the trees bend accordingly

Rail lines here have very narrow gauge.

We drove on for another 40 minutes, and reached Punakaiki Resort. We were left at the top of the driveway, and pulled our cases into the reception. Our room has a gorgeous view, smells slightly of insect spray (lots of sand flies around here too), but is comfortable. We checked the menu and decided we didn't want to eat at the resort. We opted to walk first to the Pancake rocks and blowholes that Punakaiki is famous for. We then would walk to town.

View from our room

Another view from our room

The hillsides seen behind Charlie are lush.

Some of the pancake rocks

Closeup of the pancake rocks

Maori use New Zealand flax to weave mats seen behind me and palms

More pancake rocks

Waves rushing through arches

Wave rolling over sea rock

Same rock, water pouring off

Waves crashing into gaps between rocks

View of Punakaiki from hillside

The pancake rocks and blowholes walk around was superb. The ocean was crashing onto the rocks and gave us the full exposure to booming blowholes and spray. At the cafe near the park we bought a sandwich for tomorrow's lunch. The cafe was to close at 5:30, so we had to find another place for dinner.

We continued down the hill to "town". There were at least 6 motels, a place to rent kayaks to kayak along the Punakaiki river, and one cafe/restaurant/bar. That was Punakaiki. We had a cup of coffee, then decided to sit on the beach for a time. It began to drizzle and the wind made our beach rest a bit unpleasant. Back to the cafe/restaurant/bar. We opted to sit on a porch in the garden, which was beautiful. We opted for a seafood feast which we split. Very nice.