No rest for the weary, almost literally

Up early the next morning with a fairly long drive down to the West Coast. We had heard our luck with beautiful sunny weather was about to come to an end down there. We crossed over and almost as soon as we hit the coast the clouds came in.

The ocean was certainly wild. The way we saw it, I can't imagine it is ever swimmable but apparent the west coast can get tropical flows of water at times.

We checked out Pancake Rocks after our usual picnic lunch. Fascinating formations of rocks that look like crepes stacked up together. We were advised to go at high tide to see the blow holes. Unfortunately that was at six and we still had a couple hours to drive. Fortunately though because of the weather the sea was wilder than usual and we caught a few.

On to Greymouth for supplies and our next place where we would be for 2 nights.

This place was 12km off the main road. Our hosts were so sweet and hugging us within a few minutes. They have a cottage behind their house. You walk in between 2 greenhouses to a little clearing with chairs, tables and a fire pit. To the right is the 'mancave', a little hut with a wood stove and chairs to hangout. The fire had been going for a while and it was cozy. Behind the fire pit is an outdoor bathtub.

To the left was the cabin. Tiny little thing but so cute and well organized. A bed with electric blankets and lots of regular ones. A heater on the wall and an extra portable one. A kitchen table. And a small kitchen arranged in a way that worked well, with everything you could possibly need. The fridge was stocked with milk and bacon, butter, fresh bread, eggs and homemade cookies left on the counter.

Cooked dinner and hit the sack. It was raining when we went to bed but boy did it get worse. In the middle of the night I woke up to what I thought was a gun shot right next to my head, thunder. It continued on and off throughout the night. Quite honestly the craziest thunder and lightening storm I can remember.

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