Great start to the day in Hamner - a forty five minute walk to the top of Conical Hill lookout. It is a steep walk but a lovely pathway with wonderful mushroom formations on the way and the view of the valley and sky tremendous once we reached the top. We were having withdrawal symptoms, having promised ourselves a good walk each day, but failing because we kept running out of time.
It was timely also to catch up on the sauna we missed the previous evening, followed by a hot swim. A refuel, coffee and on the road again. The weather forecast was warning of rain as we approached the West Coast and we came into the cloud and rain as we crossed the Lewis Pass. It is funny how the windshield wiper blade just misses the bit of the window you peep through and I had wished I had topped up the washer with proper liquid rather than the detergent stolen from the previous night's motel. Got the heater going though!
It lightened a little as we got down to the plains and we ran into out first hotel as we rounded a corner and saw a local leaning on the ledge with a cold glass of beer. Brake, brake, brake - U turn and back for a very cheap beer - first on the West Coast! Shortly afterwards we passed an old garage with a row of many of Sally's cousins. They had been there for some time and were showing signs of wear and tear. A couple of kms further on were a couple of Jaguars buried nose down into the ground at a farm gate entrance. It appears that the local owner had got pissed off with their reliability and buried them where they died. Oh for eccentricity!!
Farming is really booming here, but the rest of the economy looks pretty slow. Heaps of tourists, mostly middle or old aged and campervans by the hundreds. No sign of any new building activity in the town but they still possess the old fashioned values of friendliness that the Coast is renowned for. We spent the evening with John and Lynn Rapley - friends of John Carter who welcomed us into their home and provided us with a succulent home dinner - mainly composed of whitebait patties which we found very difficult to refuse. The hospitality in this area of New Zealand is just superb and this couple were a shining example.
Back to the motel at 9:30 pm to be met by Margaret Adams - a local Psychologist who is a keen trout fisherman. Nysa had organised for us to go out fly fishing tomorrow and had bought down a heap of fishing gear provided by her brother Peter. About midnight after dissecting all of the equipment we retired to bed preparing for a fishing expedition - although the weather gods may not be helping. We will see in the morning!!
