Day 17 (12th November)

Got up at 8am and fed the fat ginger camp cat (or the camp ginger fat cat – Ian?) the remains of our steak dinner. It was a grey day with low cloud as we set off down the west coast which proudly advertises itself as the ‘Grey Region’ (well that should pull in the crowds!). We took another quick peek at Pancake Rocks to see if the difference in tide height could impress Chester, but alas, there was not much more activity than on the previous evening. As we continued, the coastline got more and more bleak until we landed in Greymouth for supplies. I am not sure why anyone would choose to live here: it has the greyest weather, it is miles away from civilisation, the buildings are dull, the people are frighteningly ugly and the river inundates the town on occasions. However, not wishing to totally offend, the people here were also amongst some of the friendliest and most helpful we’ve met! Encouraged to move on we headed for glacier country and pitched up at Franz Josef Glacier as the sun came out. We booked a helicopter trip for the following morning and spent the evening feeling very excited!