Another really early start this morning - 7:30am pick up ! This meant Elizabeth really lost the plot as she loves her sleep. I got her up to get dressed and she did a runner back to bed again. When I eventually got her up she lost it and thrashed about trying to bite everyone, but mainly me. Got to the station to find huge queues, an argument broke out when a tour leader jumped it. When we got through the doors we were spotted and pulled early as we had two young children only to find they had only booked two seats for us. Fortunately this was swiftly sorted out and we had four seats together.
We then settled ourselves down for a rather overcast and rainy journey. The mountains had a mysterious air when shrouded in mist. Alex and I went to the observation car but it really was far too busy. Met Ken from Nuneaton there, Chris his wife was sensibly sat in the carriage. I managed to get a few shots but my camera is not designed for a hold above head and hope shot.
The journey was basically uneventful through amazing countryside, the only strangeness being a Japanese gentleman who stopped and filmed Alex colouring in, we think its because it was Hello Kitty. We at one point passed a small hotel which a couple had bought for $70K only to find they had actually bought the hotel, town hall, row of houses and the swimming pool. They were recently offered and declined $1 million.
We arrived into Greymouth in the wet. The girls were very excited to be here but mainly because they expected to find Grey Mouths here. In fact this has been the topic of a few games recently and Elizabeth has often been a baby Greymouth.
On arrival we were met by an older Canadian lady who has been here about 3 years who took us to our car. Sadly the car does not have central locking but apart from that its great. It was not a dedicated office but a ramshackle affair at the back of a Honda garage.

We left there without incident and had McDonalds for lunch before doing a supermarket shop. We then headed straight down to Franz Josef, we decided not to stop at Hontiki as both girls fell fast asleep. We did stop briefly at Lake Ianthe which was lovely and it also allowed David and I to experience our first long drop.

Talking of strange roads then when I heard them talk about road rail bridges I assumed they meant large two story affairs but no, here they mean a single lane bridge which is shared by both lanes of traffic and the train. Also I find that train lines through the centre of roundabouts is basically a bonkers idea.
The views from the road were amazing, the mist shrouded the tops so we only had the occasional glimpse at what was behind. In some ways it made it all the more tantalising to watch.

We found our motel without a bother and it is the best so far and the views are amazing. When the cloud lifts you can see a glacier in the distance.
As for the sunset, it was like fire in the sky. Firey reds and oranges, deep dark clouds and brilliant blue between. David and I stood outside to watch while