Day 19 Punakaiki to Hokitikia (passing through Greymouth)

90k today with a few climbs travelling along the coastline and some inland stuff. Nice and flat into Hokitikia with good en-suite motel room, more expensive 80$ for the night. Quite crowded but everyone pretty friendly which is not always the case. Chatting to a group which included a nurse from Norway doing his second year in Austrailia and a Japanese girl who was trying to get a Spouse's Visa to join her British husband, six weeks in and still waiting. Had a massive dinner, we do feel hungry most of the time and only chocolate seems to suffice.

Day 20 Hokitikia to Ross

Short run today, drizzle at first and then heavy rain. Met a German on-route and he was covering mega distances . . . really hardcore. Within this trip he was heading for the Buller Gorge for a Marathon on Sunday and then riding off to Nelson. Up the road a little we ran into another German cycling with all the camping gear and doing about 170k per day, it was unbelievable the amount of food he consumed!!!!! Weather very grey all day and no improvement by the time we came to our overnight destination the "Old Church." well what a strange place, see photo. It's up for sale but nobody wants to stay, they come in and then run out. We don't mind we have built a big log fire and moved the settee closer - bit dirty but what can you do???? On the alter there is a very large selection of old records and a record player with speakers - brilliant. There is a snooker table and large windows that look over the river and at present it's lashing it down. The latest visitors were Germans but they think it's haunted so they left hey-ho. Thought we were going to have it all to ourselves then a couple from near Manchester turned up, spent to night chatting but did not want to stay, decided to sleep in their van. We had a good night.

Day 21 Ross - Harihari

Said our good-byes and started to climb straight away through to Harihari for coffee and milkshake. Weather improving and the countryside very pleasing, but decided not to stop rather to go onto Whataroa. Found a cabin really nice arrived around 3 p.m. soaking wet but the scenery over Mt Hercules was impressive, extremely green and mountainous.

Day 22 Whataora - Franz Josef Glacier

After 32k reached Franz Josef ski resort with guided tours, walks on the glacier 1/2 day approx 160$ or a helicoptor flight, they are in and out about every 20 minutes (fully booked for days in advance). We took a walk up to the Tatare Tunnels these were excavated by engineers to gain water for the lower terraces for the gold prospectors (panning). You need to book rooms in advance in Franz Josef and we have a 90$ en-suite only one available, it has a DVD and CD player so last night we hired a CD for the evening. Extremely heavy rain all night. Met a very happy Japanese cyclist who left Japan in 2007 to travel around the world, he shouold achieve this by 2014. I have never seen a bike loaded down so much, panniers everywhere. When finished he plans to write a motivation book and give lectures for young people to make them aware that all dreams can be fulfilled. . . he is writing small articles for a cycling mag and someone is partly sponsoring his bike. Franz Josef is the most impressive sight so far, but that's only my opinion, truly amazing.