We had a very busy day today, traveling along the west coast highway. After leaving Westport, we stopped off at the fur seal colony at Cape Foul Winds. Didn't see too many seals but the day had started off with clear skies and no wind so it was looking like we were going to have a great day. The west coast of the South Island has to rank amongst the most beautiful places in the world. Every turn in the road presented more and more beautiful views. Reid Fowler had told us of this incredible hike up the Fox River valley in order to see a geological area known as the Ballroom Overhang. We started our tramp at 10:30 going along a trail alongside the river. Then we had to ford the river twice along a bend eventually ending up on a long trek up the south side of the river. The river had destroyed some of the markers so we had some trouble finding the correct route but we did have to ford the river 6 more times, eventually ending up at the correct location. We had not seen anyone whilst hiking to this point and came around a corner to see 2 young fellows, one from Vermont and the other from Calgary, Alberta! The Ballroom Overhang was well worth the trip. At the first ford, I tried crossing the river in my bare feet but it was too fast and my feet did not handle the rocks too well. We thought about turning back but decided to just cross in our boots and holding hands to support one another. This worked quite well in conjunction with choosing good spots to ford. Going up the valley was almost like stepping into a Lord of the Rings movie set. Incredible cliffs along the way and the paths were amazing. We got back to the maggot at about 4:00pm. We then continued down the highway to Punakaiki where we stopped to see the Pancake rocks. It was interesting that we had seen similar rocks on our walk along the Fox River. We had hoped to get to the rocks at high tide but the hike had taken longer than we thought. They were well worth stopping for though! We have stopped at Greymouth for the night and met up with some friends we had met on our tramp in Abel Tasman Park. Spent the evening chatting with them and comparing experiences. They are from Denmark. We will exchange addresses. Well, Jean is wanting to sleep so,I will publish this in the morning. Woke up this morning to fog but I think it will clear up soon. Had a pretty restless night as the sand flies had bitten me quite a few times while hiking. Imagine a mosquito bite and make the itch 10 times worse and you have a sand fly bite. We will travel today and have decided to give Franz Josef and Fox glaciers a miss. We will go to Haast and stay the night there before crossing Haast Pass to Queenstown.