Today was one of the day’s that I had worried the most about our timing. It involved a drive of almost 500 kms to get to the Franz Josef glacier. If we didn’t make it in time, we would have to forfeit the money we had paid for the half day glacier trekking!
Our first leg took us from Nelson to Punakaiki so that we could visit the Pancake Rocks & Blowholes. As we neared Punakaiki, the roads were quite winding, but the views of the Tasman Sea were spectacular! At every bend, it seemed like there were more stunning views. We reached Punakaiki at about 12.30, and set off around the walking track.
The rocks did look like stacks of pancakes piled onto one another, and were really unusual. They didn’t look that sturdy to me, and the waves pounding against the rocks made me think that the rocks wouldn’t last forever because of the erosion. I guess it’s just like the twelve apostles along the Great Ocean Road in Melbourne, things don’t last forever.
Other than the rocks, there were also blowholes in the same area. It was really fun looking at the holes, waiting for the spray of water to come out of the holes. It wasn’t as big as it could’ve been, because it wasn’t high tide, but it was still better than the ones we saw in Australia.
We drove onto Greymouth for our lunch stop, and from there went on to the Franz Josef Glacier. My driving tally today was a measly 100 kms, and Terence was the champion, doing almost 400 kms! At Franz Josef, we stayed at the YHA there, and the rooms were awesome. They were clean, bright and most importantly, really warm. The showers were nice as well, with wonderful water pressure and lots of hot water. So far, YHAs are impressing me more than the BBH hostels.
For dinner, we went to a pub nearby called The Landing and ordered nachos, fish and chips, and a banoffee pie.
Although we’re living in backpacker hostels, we’re sure not eating like backpackers! Lots of the backpackers cook their own dinners, and we always seem to go out for relatively expensive dinners. I suppose they aren’t really expensive by NZ standards, a main meal normally costs about 20 – 25 NZD, so on average our dinners are usually about 50 NZD. We just keep telling ourselves not to convert to RM, and it doesn’t make us feel so bad. 
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Ooooh beautiful photos! I had dinner at The Landing too… awesome place! Ahhh… the good memories came flooding back… I am so jealous.