Franz Joseph to Hokitika

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island
November 3rd 2017

Published: November 3rd 2017

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Dramatic view from car

Hi everyone,

Woke up and drove off in the most horrendous downpour.Everywhere is so grey and dull. Quite a transformation. The scenery in this weather is rather dramatic.Pat thinks I’m a bit odd,as I really like looking for different styles of telegraph poles of which there are many. I have a few now in my photo collection. I can feel the excitement building Ha ha.

Stopped on the way for petrol and got an unusual shot of two stuffed animal heads on the petrol station office Wall.Went next door for a coffee and I have never seen an animal skin centre piece adorning a cafe table. The whole decor was slightly out of place for a remote roadside cafe. We continued on until we reached our hotel in Hokitika. OMG this has to be the most ugly and uninviting looking hotels we have yet to encounter. Sheepishly we opened the door to our room and gave a sigh of relief. Our room is really nice ,again with a balcony but this time a sea view. Shame the weather is still horrible. We could have had a lovely sunset view of the mountains and sea. Never mind.

Hokitika is

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Ferns cover roadside banking like feathers on a birds wing

a strange little out of date place.Lots of shops selling jade jewelry and trinkets.As per usual most items are very pricey.I picked up a fairly run of the mill pair of sandals which I expected to cost in the region of £30 or $45-50 .I was flabbergasted to see a price tag of $269 or approx £169. Needless to say I replaced them on the shelf and hastily exited the shop .Nz and Australian wages must be a lot higher than ours otherwise they would all be running around barefoot and naked !Hope the weather improves but we shouldnt be greedy.One bad day isn’t bad considering how long we have been away.Off to Hanmer Springs tomorrow.Better get packing again.Im quite a dab hand now and can sort the cases out in just a few minutes.However it’s wonderful when we stay somewhere for more than one night and we can put things on hangers and in drawers.Also it gives us a chance to wash clothes and dry them.We’ve done that a fair few times aswell so we generally smell quite ok. No one has barred us from their premises yet.?

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