The next morning didn’t look good for anyone planning to whale watch. It was very windy and threatening to rain. We’d been told that the best time to visit the West coast was when it was dry. It wasn’t looking good as we left Kaikoura and headed towards the Lewis pass.

The weather forecast turned out to be wrong. By the time we stopped for lunch at Springs Junction the sun was shining and the sky was clear. We visited the i-site to try to book a motel in Greymouth. They said their system was a bit iffy; Susan booked a place using booking.com that was showing full on i-site’s system.

As soon as we reached the West coast we headed North to Punakaiki to visit Pancake Rocks. We arrived at just the right time. The tide was up and the waves were just right to power the blow holes.

another ‘thar she blows’ moment.

Posted by Herb Miller on Saturday, 29 February 2020

i didn’t realise it at the time when I asked him “why the long face” but now realise he was just acting out how I’d feel when I discovered i’d left my hat behind.

Posted by Herb Miller on Friday, 28 February 2020

That evening, rather than trying to find somewhere to eat in Greymouth town centre we wandered down the road to the Australasian Hotel. It was OK.