Once again the sun is shining and we awake ( note: we are and have been sleeping approx 12 hours straight, non alcohol fuelled, very satisfying) 1st stop the Punakiki blow holes, these are layers of rock that have formed/ appeared on the coastline the appear as a stack of pancakes, layered top of each other. They are a geological phenomenon and no one is quite sure how they came to be, at high tide they appear to blow the sea up, like a whale through the holes in the formation. Punakiki rocks rock ( see pics) from here we head to Hokatiki. This town was recommended to us by the petrol attendant. As soon as we drove in and witnessed the town and beach against the spectacular alpine mountain backdrop we were in love. This town is famous for its driftwood beach and a local Maori precious stone called Pounamu. You are allowed to pan the beach for it, as under tide mark is finders keepers, above you must give to the Maori tribe. Several hours of beach combing later and several hours of the best time we leave the beach, a few Pounamu stones gathered. Legend says you cannot keep it and must pass it on... We will. We talk to a local carver selling his wares on the beach and head towards our next area to explore....The Glaciers........tourist radio alerts you to, things to do, places of interest, accommodation etc. on the way into our first glacial town stop we are alerted to the 'best scenic helicopter rides and glacier landing establishment'. We detour as this is something we are interested in....we pull up and Louise enquires. It turns out that today there are no more flights due to weather conditions, even though the sun was shining all around us. Apparently not so up there. We leave open minded but are aware that the weather is not in our favour, the next few days are going to be wet! We head toward the Franz Josef Top 10 site as we need a proper recharge. Lovely site with fabulous views of where we intend to walk to tomorrow, the Franz Josef Glacier face.