West coast and the seals

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Spent the main part of the day driving the 300kms to Westport along the winding, mountainous, costal roads of Highway No 6! The scenery along the way was breathtaking and we stopped along the way to take lots of photos. The hedgrows are full of ferns and flax and looks very tropical, however the weather is anything but. Its grey, overcast and a bit chilly right now. Hopefully it will get warmer as we move up the coast. Reached Greymouth in time for lunch - had our usual cheap and cheerful sarnies before taking a gander around the town - which didn't really take long! Picked up a Lonely Planet guide for the Cook Islands to try and figure out what we're going to do there. Drove on a bit before stopping at a small settlement called 'Punakaiki' - famous for it's limestone pancake rocks and manificent blowholes. Unfortunately we'd missed high tide by a few hours so the blow holes weren't blowing! The pancake rocks were pretty impressive though and made a good break from the car for an hour.

Just west of Westport is a seal colony - the Tauranga Bay Seal Colony, where NZ Fur Seals hang out. Best of all is that you can see the seals for free - now there's a money making opportunity that someone has not used yet! There were a couple of viewing platforms above the rocks where you could watch the goings on of the seals below. Seems to be a hard life - lots of laying around on the rocks, going for a swim every now and again and the occasional fight. A few newborn pups were wriggling around by their mums, so was great to see. It's amazing how much the colony smells though - rotting fish smells come wafting up at you - nice!

Home for the night was the Westport Seal Colony top 10 holiday park, where we arrived mid afternoon. The weather is a bit brighter here, so putting up the tent in the sunshine didn't seem too much of a chore today. Were watched intently by 2 curious horses over the fence! After dinner we drove to town in search of an internet cafe as the modem at the camp got blown up in a lightening storm a few days ago. Unfortunately everywhere had closed about 5.30pm - eventually found a backpackers hostel with a coin operated internet station, where they very begrudgingly let us use it. Had a quick look at accomodation for the Cook Islands - doesn't look to be too much in the budget range, so e-mailed a few places to check on availability - fingers crossed. Huddled up in the TV room at the campsite for the rest of the evening, where Paul watched a movie and Beck indulged in her new found passion of reading gossip mags!


Packed everything up the next morning (much easier in the sunshine!) and drove into town, with the intention of going for a swim. It was not to be today as the pool was being used for a kids triathlon, but we weren't too sad as the sign outside announced that the pool had been closed for 3 days due to 'faecal contamination'. Sometimes honesty is not the best policy! With the promise of NZ's sunniest weather looming at our next destination (Abel Tasman National Park), we eagerly jumped into the car and drove the 4 hrs to the tiny village of Marahou.

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