Westport

A couple of short walks on the way and with the weather now good after the storms the idea of some outdoor activities sounded pretty appealing, on offer there is a range of things from jet boating to quad biking which is what we decided on, these were rear wheel drive quads so lots of fun and liked to do doughnuts.

Now incredibly muddy we continued to the hostel to find our bags waiting there, we were staying at Basils hostel which isn't like any other I have stayed in; the bedrooms and showers are pretty standard however the kitchen looks like a house kitchen, with herbs & spices by the oven and with all wooden side and hanging pans you wouldn't be shocked to find a Rayburn in the corner. That night Kane (our driver) had organised a 3 legged pub crawl, not to a lot of pubs just 3 but it was a great way to meet new people and be led into different friend groups. The next day a large group from the bus stayed behind to spend an extra night so that they might go surfing or mountain biking which were available as long as that is what the owner wanted to do that day.

We headed south stopping at a few places on the way where we could look over a cliff down to a small fur seal colony, from a distance they could often be almost impossible to determine from the rocks until they moved. Then further down the cost we stopped at the Pancake rocks (Punakaiki) where the sea has worn away at the layers of rocks to create some spectacular shapes

We were then given our fancy theme for the night and were told we would soon be stopping in Greymouth to collect supplies.