Great West Coast Road

This morning we went to the "National Kiwi Centre" in Hokitika, a funny little wildlife centre that looked more like somebody's hobby. It was interesting nevertheless and Solana loved it. We saw some very large NZ eels and got to feed them. As the name suggests we also got to see some Kiwi birds - they are now so rare and difficult to see in the wild that this will almost certainly be the only ones we get to see during our trip to NZ... We also went "fishing" for crayfish there - we each caught one but sadly had to throw them back into the water (they looked like they'd have made a very tasty lunch!).

Today was the day of Laura's Dad Barrie's funeral. As we had made the very difficult decision not to make the long journey back to the UK to attend his funeral in person, we spent a lot of time thinking about him today and it was fitting that today was the day we drove through the little village of Barrytown....

Travelling further North, we stopped at Punakaiki to see the famous "pancake rocks" - unusual rock formations that look like stacks of pancakes. There were dramatic sea views from here too. After checking into our cabin in Westport for the night, and cooking pasta for dinner, we went for a walk to see the local seal colony. The sun was setting by the time we arrived, so the light was not good for photos of the seals but we got to see some young seals playing around on the rocks - adorable.Read more