A stop for ice cream!

Drove north again from Westport and arrived in Nelson for lunch. Several hours drive again - must say getting a little annoying now as every morning we plug our destination into the sat nav and it invariably says 230km and predicts 2 1/2 hour journey but it takes 5 hours to get our tank along the twisty roads - humph! Still it is all very scenic so it's more of a touring holiday rather than a sights at the moment. I guess we underestimated the size of the place!

We were glad to arrive in Nelson as we'd driven through a lot of rain in the mountains. At one point we had complete white out atop a twisty pass which was exciting!

Westport

Quite a long drive to Westport so we were glad to get there. Stopped off to pick up food supplies and then checked in to the Seal Colony Motor Park by the beach. Bit like a Butlins with little beige huts and stuff. Cooked steak for dinner with some New Zealand wine and then an early night.

Kea

Well New Zealanders love nothing better than a good Kea story. It seems these birds can (and love) destroying anything from windscreen wipers to weather stations.

Anyway here's one we found looking for some mischief around the car park.

Pancake Rocks

Our final tourist stop for the day was Pancake Rocks. There was a walkway around top and you could see blow holes where the waves would crash out of from.

State Highway 6

From Hokitika the road hit the coastline for a breathtaking drive North. Road very twisty in places and everything in the van was thrown everywhere. At one stage thought we'd hit something but it was just the cutlery drawer spewing its contents all over!

Coastline was very rugged and totally unspoilt - can't believe how vast and unpopulated it all is.

Hokitika

Drove of from Franz Joseph heading North. Stopped off at a great town called Hokitika for lunch. The first time we'd been at the coast proper - fantastic beach - really rugged with what looked like great surfing waves but I'm sure you'd probably get swept away in at instant!

Another glacier

Up and out the camp site before 9 and first stop the Franz Joseph Glacier. Walked up to it along the stony river bed. Couldn't get really close unless you paid a lot of money for a helicopter trip or an organised tour but after the Moreno Glacier in Argentina it was more a question of not missing out. Still good to see it though.