Travel to Punakaiki, 21st

Time to say bye to the lovely Franz Josef and head on the coach to Punakaiki. There were a few familiar faces on the coach from the journey to Franz, and so we had a nice chat along the way, and all got throughly confused over which mountain was which when trying to identify the tallest one from a distance.cthere were a few stops along the way as usual, and we passed by a few sights including a sawmill and gold mine. Both these things have been fairly big industries in these parts. The journey took us out of glacier country and further up the west coast, taking in a lot of seaside along the way, and finally bringing us to Punakaiki where I disembarked. 

It is a very small place, with a couple of short streets of predominantly holiday accommodation, and that's about it. My hostel is a lovely place, all done out in a surfy beachy style, with upstairs windows looking out to sea. Glad I arrived early enough to grab a bottom bunk though as there are no rails around the top ones! There's a rock formation on the coast here know as the pancake rocks, where they have weathered in layers like stacked pancakes. Theres also a lovely beach with lots of driftwood, and a river flowing out through a gorge to the beach with a walk along its banks. I have taken in all of these sights, and watched the sun set out to sea. The coach to Nelson leaves tomorrow afternoon, so if it's another beautiful day tomorrow I may hire a kayak in the morning, we shall see!