Kiwis have names for the weather of the day. A soft day is one that is cloudy but not rainy. A misty day is one when it is drizzling. Today it is simply a wet day! It was raining again this morning as we left the hotel at 8:30, heading further north along the coast. The rain squalls come and go; it is not a constant rain. “M” said autumn weather can be variable here. Normally it is dry but sometimes it is wet as we are currently experiencing. This autumn has been overly wet. It looks as if we came the wrong year. The scenery is pastoral – small farms, an occasional tiny community (old logging towns), lots of streams and rivers (big rivers, little rivers, clear rivers, glacial rivers), all with mist shrouded mountains in the distance. We are driving more inland now, with no views of the ocean which is about 12 miles to our right.

They could easily call this region “Fernland” as there are green ferns growing everywhere you look. I recognize some but there were dozens of varieties I have never seen before. They are quite lovely, as the locals would say.

We stopped at the town of Hokitika for 1.5 hours to sightsee, shop and find a bit of lunch. The town is home to many artisans and there are many shops featuring their varied works.  We found some intriguing trivets made of flat stones found on the beaches in town. Yvonne also found a warm knit hat made of merino wool and possum fur. Most of the garments made here are a combination of possum and merino wool for both softness and warmth. I asked if they raise possum for their fur. The clerk said “heavens no, the possum are pests in the wild and we kill as many as we can“!

Since we had a large breakfast most couples skipped lunch and we found an old-fashioned bakery that reminded us of our youth and everyone had hot tea and a sweet snack.

The rains continued, sometimes accompanied with an (uncommon) blustery wind, which provided horizontal rain for a time.  The air temperature is the warmest we have experienced in quite a few days. We arrived at our destination for the night, the ocean front Punakaiki Resort near the famous Punakaiki rocks and blowholes. Because it is still raining hard we skipped the blowholes and rock formations and came directly to the hotel. We will hopefully have better weather in the morning and then hike the area.

The location of the hotel is right on the ocean. Our room looks out at the surf which is about 300 feet away. The sounds of the water will be a soothing background noise tonight.

Tomorrow is our last day with the tour so we are having a group farewell dinner here at the resort. In the morning we will sightsee our way to Christchurch where we will spend the night. Everyone goes their own way Thursday morning. We will fly on to Napier on the North Island and meet Scott & Jessica who are joining us for a few days. Our grandson Isaiah is busy working so we will join him back in Auckland on Easter Sunday.