We drove all night (or rather all day)

---

- FOOD: Restaurant serving roadkill such as possum pie (it was closed though)

- AREA: Westport town - a long straight road. Seals at Tauranga Bay. Eye catching Pancake Rocks and excellent waves gushing through the blow holes. Pukekura town run by a family of possum haters.

- PEOPLE: Laura and Lou and Tongarua the van


Sat 13th Aug: Westport wasn't all that great - the typical lay out of a small NZ town - one long, straight road with some shops coming off it. So we drove around the coast where there were some good waves and some seals at Tauranga Bay.
They kept us entertained for a while but this area ain't called Cape Foulwind for nothing so back in the van we jumped and drove along the Tasman Sea coast onto Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks.

They look so good with thin layers of limestone rock on rock built up to quite a height. There's lots of them along with some excellent waves crashing around them, forming caves and very effective blow holes as the water wears the limestone away and creates a kind of spa such is the power of the wave (not a spa I would risk having a dip in though!). The rocks probably won't exist in thousands of years time as the limestone is so soft.

We then drove, drove, drove - it's good that we have some tapes to listen to at last that Steve recorded as the radio doesn't pick up for lots of the time but already the tapes are getting too much!
We stopped very briefly at Pukekura which is a tiny town run by a family of possum haters - they have a museum displaying road kill and a cafe SERVING roadkill - possum pie etc.... I think it was probably a good job it was closed.

We at last made it to Franz Josef glacier and found the local pub which was heaving. It may be deserted in lots of NZ but not the parts where winter activities exist!

---