Friday Jan 22, 2010 – From Westport to Franz Joseph

It is raining today.

Our first stop was at an old gold mine. The people that owned it set it up as a tourist site but we also think they are working it as well. With the price of gold now it is probable worth it. It was an honour system. There was a jug with a piece of metal on it. You just put your money in and walked around the site. The message said that someone would catch up to us. No one ever did. It was quite interesting. There was not very much info around to help us figure out what things were. It was not raining anymore here. We got wet none the less because of the water on the plants.

Off to the Punakaiki or Pancake Rocks. The waves were not high enough to make the blowhole work. We did see it last time so it was not a problem. The rocks are amazing even without the wave action. We did notice more erosion over the last time. It was a very nice walk around the area. Again it was not raining when we got there.

Next came Hokitika. I wanted to see the glass place again. Nothing they had this time caught my attention. More items were in our price range though. We walked around a little before leaving. Again no rain. It had been raining off and on the whole day so far. Charles said "It's misty, it's spitting, it's raining, it's spitting, it's raining, it's misty and so on". The windshield wipers were off, on pulse or full on. Round and round it went. It sure couldn't make up its mind.

We drove the rest of the way without stopping to get to Franz Josef. Well, we did stop for a bathroom break at Whataroa. Jennifer says that Wh is pronounced like F. The town name would be pronounced like Fataroa. There was a jade shop that said everything was carved by a local Maori carver. I just had to go in. I am not fond of jade . However I did find a pair of earrings I liked and bought a small turtle of Jennifer.

Franz Josef was bright, sunny and hot. This is our first time this trip at a hostel. It is quite different after staying in our own units. We had an ensuite so didn't have to use the communal bathrooms. We did however have to use the communal kitchen. They were giving part of the kitchen a good cleaning so it was closed. The other half had gas burners which were hard to get to work. Even if they worked they would not do anything but low. After we were able to cook our meal we let others take over the burners without turning them off.

We had dinner with an English couple and their 3 children. They had sold everything in England, quit their jobs and bought a farm in NZ near Nelson. They were very interesting to talk to. They said they only go over the Takaka Hill (aka THE HILL) once a year and only if they really need too! The man said there are 365 turns on that part of the road.