Leaving Punakaiki

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Not easy to do. The sun was shining and the sea beckoned but onwards and downwards to Franz Joseph. Discovered all our storage was used on the ipad and couldnt download any more photos so we needed to sort this out The first port of call was Westport which although on the coast was not inspiring. We drove down to the sea and apart from one car that was stuck and Steve obviously wanted to help, there was nothing there, no cafes no shops just old trees and stones. We drove back into Westport and went to a supermarket for provisions and ended up talking to a couple from Sussex, Brighton who had moved out 4years ago, they didnt seem quite with it but that was no problem for them. Driving down to Greymouth was lovely hugging the coastline and a fast road, but Greymouth was industrial and again not inspiring we bought the memory sticks here and moved on quickly to Hokitika where we stopped to look at the sea and no different just washed up dead trees on a grey grainy beach. The coffee shop was good and we had a light lunch there and the post office also helpful.We were feeling quite frustrated with our inability to sort out the storage problem for the iPad is old age starting?? We travelled on to Franz Joseph and checked into a motel with views of the mountains and a nice bloke in charge who suggested we go to Okitari a lake where we could see white herons. We had some left over veg curry from last night so went and bought some lamb to add to it. Then Barry said he was in Franz Joseph so we met up. He joined us for the evening and we spent the time talking about where we had been and what had been happening. We all ate together in our small room and what a nice evening it was.

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