Slept in till 7 am LOL Early start as today is a driving day. Very windy, rainy night, cool this am but sunny for now. Narrow, hilly drive through start of Southern Alps with lots of tricky corners- Pete's driving-Steve got him again!! Patty did a lot of knitting on this section of the drive with eyes down! Snow on the mountain tops and beautiful fall colors on the trees. Stopped in Murchison, small village in the valley before heading into Buller's gorge. A very interesting drive with many one lane bridges. Showers off and on with 3 different rainbows. Turned south at Inangahua and drove through Victoria State Forest- about 30 kms of perfectly straight road, highly unusual!! Stopped in Greymouth (a busy seaside town) for lunch at Billy O's takeaway for fish and chips. OK but no comparison to Vinnie's! Went to Shades of Jade, Sarah & Pete bought a small jade souvenir and I bought paua (type of shell) earrings. Next stop was Hokitika a small town on the Tasmen Sea. The waves were HUGE as a severe storm had gone through last night. There was a tornado in the valley and a spectacular thunder and lightening storm. We were very glad we had stayed in Nelson and missed the show!! Headed to Franz Josef Top 10 Holiday Park for the night. What a beautiful place- the mountains were spectacular! Clear starry night but very cold!!