Tuesday 05 February

Franz Joseph
We made a fairly early start this morning after a good nights sleep and drove about 45 kms north to Punakaiki, the site of the Pancake Rocks. These are enormous structures made from layers of limestone, laid down under the seabed millions of years ago and then pushed to the surface as the result of volcanic activity. They jut up at the coastal edge and a some a short way into the sea. Plants have colonised the tops which remain above sea level, and birds nest in them. Unfortunately we were a couple of hours past the high tide, when the incoming sea rushes into them and is forced upwards through blow-holes. We did catch one or two small ones and even they were magnificent as the sun's rays formed rainbows in the air above them. The angry pulsing sea pounded around and against them and it was easy to appreciate how they are slowly being worn away and reduced to sand. The spectacle was well worth the detour, not to be missed.
We then turned around and drove about 200 kms south, most of the journey was on a coastal plain sandwiched between the Tasman Sea coast and the high mountains of the Southern Alps. We are headed for another DoC site at the head of a large lake, which looked very nice in the DoC campsites guide. However when we got there is was soulless, the first time we have been disappointed with a DoC site. It was rather like a car park beside a quite busy road flat and open. We decided to carry on a bit further towards Franz Joseph and the glaciers.
We saw a Holiday Park just off the road and turned in there and that's were we are now. The weather is fine, in fact warmer this evening than it has been all day as the wind has dropped. We watched the weather forecast on TV last night and the next few days are unseasonably cold before it warms up again, down to 6C in Queensland, the direction in which we are headed. However no more rain is forecast and there is a blue cloudless sky.
The Holiday Park is vast, with every type of accommodation from tent sites to complete chalet bungalows. It was almost empty when we arrived but there has been a steady stream of Motor Homes dribbling in over the afternoon. The facilities here are top notch, lovely bathrooms and kitchens AND WiFi. So instead of being in the backwoods we are in a lap of luxury and we have BBQd, a gas BBQ unfortunately, and cooked vegetables in the kitchen. I have had another hot shower. Lack of a shower is what I miss most on the DoC sites. I wouldn't mind a cold bucket bath usually, but successive layers of insect repellent are not nice. It is oily and attracts dust which clogs and settles in the ridges on your skin. Being quite wrinkly I seem to have a lot of ridges, and over two or three days it accumulates and cold water doesn't shift it.
We drove through the outskirts of Grey mouth on the way here and then through a couple of other largish towns and once again I was impressed with how clean and tidy everywhere is, grass verges neatly trimmed, no litter. Even in rural areas the hedgerows are abundant with flowers, and I am not sure if they are truly wild or have been introduced. The most striking are the Hydrangeas, they grow in large clumps and seem to manage to be blue, pink and white, all on the same soil type. There is a small orangey-red lily type plant which I am sure is he same one which is rampant in my front garden at home. Another common site is clumps of plants with blue and when flower heads on long stalks, I feel as if I ought to know what they are.
So tomorrow we will try and visit the Franz Joseph Glacier in the morning and then move on in a south-easterly direction, a little inland. We may decide to spend a few days in that area, in the mountains before moving on to Fiordland.