Well here goes with a long old blog entry...........

After departing Franz Josef we made our way up the rugged west coast towards Hokitika. We did notice on the map and in Lonely Planet that most of the little towns along the way were former Gold Mining communities. So at that we decided to go to Ross to try and earn our millions. Ross was a quaint little place and had a wild west town feel to it. I rushed into the Info centre and rented a panner and spade. We decided to have lunch and so set up our cooker and got to work. A bus full of German and a few from Denmark tourists pulled up and one lady homed straight in on us, and requested to have our picture taken cooking the noodles and baked beans, she seemed very pleased with herself. We both made our way to the creek and started panning, soon we were finding all sorts of things like rocks, leafs,twigs and finally a wee gold flake. Ellie lost her concentration very quickly and went and sat on a rock while I made my way further upstream. I too lost all hope and we packed in and made our way back to the van. That night we decided to stay in a DOC camp just outside Hokitika so we started making our way there via Hokitika which had nothing of intrest except a supermarket and jade shops. That night we got eatten alive and managed to kill 25 mozzies and when we did go to sleep which was about 3am the b*****s were still buzzzzing around!!!!!

We decided to head off rather sharpish in the morning and got our usual yogurts and sat by the sea and ate them. We then started to make our way towards the pancake rocks and the blowholes. The journey was very pretty and hugged the coast line pretty much all the way there. We arrived and were on time for the main event, apparently the swell from the sea forces water at such a rate the pressure creates a blowhole just like a whale. We got to the spot and nothing happened, we waited and waited and nothing happened. It was very pretty so we took some pics and made our way back to rodney. We drove a bit further down the road and stopped for lunch. We then made our way towards The Cape Of Foulwind which was just before Westport. We took some pics infront of the sign and decided to make ourway up to the lighthouse. Ellie wasn't feeling too well so we decided to stay at a Top 10 caravan park. It was mighty windy up on that cape of bloody foulwind. Westport again had nothing to write home about but the Top 10 was in a nice location. We had dinner and relaxed that evening.

The next day we headed into Westport and got our weekly shop and some breakfast which consisted of you know what...... We then headed out of town to find somewhere to eat it, and after 30 eggy minutes we found a layby. We ten headed through the lower buller gorge and then through the upper buller gorge via the longest swing bridge in NZ. It was funny because once on it it did swing and letting people past wasn't too easy. We done a little walk and saw the Jet Boat zoom past. It was a bit touristy just like everything in NZ. It seemed very made up and not very natural, bit of a shame. We then drove towards Nelson National Park and decided we would stay at a DOC camp here. We arrived at the first option, which was at the base of a stunning lake, we got out to take some pics and we got bombarded by a million sandflies, shame as we just had to jump straight back in the car and drive off. Next stop was option 2 again a nice lake and again a million sandflies. We stayed here but as soon as we started cooking dinner they were everywhere. Apparantly they land on you, then bite, then urinate. We have massive bites and ellie has scars,itch,itch,itch. The place was absolutly stunning but the sandflies were an absolute nightmare. We scuuried off and got brekkie away from the million sandflies. We did get some pics and did brave a walk upto the lake, they definetly spoil the stay but scenery is breathtaking.

Next stop Abel Tasman..............