It rained most of this morning, so we hunkered down in our cozy cabin and read. According to Google, the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island gets 2 meters of rain a year!

Around noon the skies started to clear. We drove down to the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes visitor center in Paparoa National Park. We did the loop hike out to the coast.

After our hike we had pizza at the cafe.

This morning after we left Ross Beach Top10 Holiday Park we went back to the Ross Historic Goldfields Museum. We noticed yesterday that they had a book swap. So today we brought the two paperback books we have finished and swapped them for new books to read.

Then we hiked the 1.5 mile Ross Water Race Walkway. It was a beautiful hike and we got to see ruins of the gold mining infrastructure.

From Ross we headed north along the coast. Tonight we are at a beautiful forest retreat just outside of Punakaiki National Park where we will explore tomorrow.

This morning we woke up to overcast skies threatening rain. We drove into Hokitika for breakfast. Hokitika is about twenty miles north of Ross where we are staying. It’s the nearest town that has restaurants. This area was a big gold rush and gold mining area.

On our way back from breakfast we stopped at a couple of gold mining historical sites.

This afternoon we went for another long walk on the beach. This time we headed south.

For dinner we had New Zealand cheese, salmon and wine. We ate it at the table in our room. It was yummy!

Arthur’s Pass Alpine Motel, where we stayed last night, was really nice. I can’t believe that yesterday, Duke an I sat there wearing every piece of warm clothing we had, trying to stay warm. When, if we had read the folder right in front of us, about the motel, we would have learned that if we were cold there was an extra space heater under the sink and all the beds had electric blankets! Once we turned on the space heater we were cozy and warm!

We woke up this morning to fresh snow on the mountains around us and clearing skies. Thank goodness, because we were able to enjoy the stunning scenery.

Before heading west down to the west side of New Zealand’s South Island, we enjoyed a wonderful big breakfast at the cafe just down from the motel.

The drive down out of the mountains was gorgeous. I am so glad the rain stopped and the sun came out.

Tonight we are in the town of Ross overlooking the Tasman Sea. We are staying in a cozy little dome.

After getting settled we went for a lovely walk along the beach.

Ross is a very small village with a gold rush history. We went into the village to the Historic Empire Hotel for dinner. Although New Zealanders speak English, sometimes the accent can be a bit of a challenge. I thought I was ordering the Whitebait meal but actually I was ordering the Whitebait Sammy.. Duke had the beef pie and chips. It was all good.

This morning we had breakfast at Riverside Market before checking out of our hotel, the Observatory, and drove northwest, in the rain across the mountains toward’s the west coast of New Zealand.

We are spending the night at a motel near the mountain pass. We have a nice little room but the heater in the room isn’t keeping up and we are snuggled on the couch trying to keep warm. I think this area would be beautiful for hiking but for the rain.

For lunch and dinner we went to the little cafe down the road. As we were leaving our cabin we met the motel owner for the first time. She asked how we were doing and I said cold! She asked if we were using the space heater under the sink in addition to the wall heater. We didn’t know about it! As we drove off she went into our room and turned it on. At the cafe down the road I had a burger and Duke had a burrito bowl for dinner.

When we got back to the room it was definitely warmer. I’ve still got my long underwear and 3 layers on top, but the space heater is doing the trick.

Tomorrow’s blog post is here.