Day 19- November 21st

We left Westport at 9.30 in the morning and started on the long trip to Lake Mahinapua Hotel.
Some people had gone surfing that morning, so whilst waiting to pick them up, we went on a short coastal walk in the drizzle. The views were dark and brooding, and reminded me of something out of Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice. I actually think the rainy weather helped enhance the atmosphere of the place!

Mysterious

Near the end, we looked down from the cliffs and saw some seals on the rocks below! They were rolling around and looked pretty playful and cute, but were well camouflaged and it was hard to photograph them.

Spot the seal

We drove a little more and then stopped at Pancake rocks for lunch. They were no where near as exciting as they sound, but were still quite unique. Apparently, mildly acidic rain, wind and seawater sculpted the bizarre shapes in the rocks.

The layers in the rock (to the left) look like stacks of pancakes

Our final stop before Lake Mahinapua was Greymouth. The town got its name from a disease that originated there many years ago. It affected sheep, and caused the infected animal to lose its teeth and its mouth area would go grey and nasty, and eventually it would start foaming at the mouth. A bit like zombie sheep.... Only joking! This was the story our bus driver told us, but it was funny how many people believed him!

A friendly duck

The purpose of our stop in Greymouth was to buy costumes for the fancy dress party we were having that evening. We only had one hour and the theme was 'under the sea' which should have been fairly easy, but we were lacking in inspiration somewhat. Well actually, I had lots of good ideas I though, but they just weren't appreciated!

'You could go as a sea-troll'

I already had a blue dress so I was going as the sea, and Emma managed to find some yellow marigolds and blue paint and was going as Dory from finding Nemo, and Lily was going as a piece of seaweed.
We arrived at Lake Mahinapua hotel which was in the middle of no where, and were welcomed warmly. We actually had the whole place to ourselves which was probably quite a good thing. The dorms were quite small, but the showers were clean and hot.

Cows outside the hotel

Before we started getting ready, we had chance to do some jade carving, a traditional stone for the Maori tribes. We made necklaces; mine was the worst- it was a wonky diamond shape. But Lily made a sweet star and Emma made a droplet shape.

Sanding down her jade stone

The party that night was good fun. The music was good and there was a lot of dancing. And there were some seriously creative costumes going on! One guy had gone full out and was wearing a pink women's dress and had a clear umbrella with pink crêpe paper hanging down in strands for his jelly fish outfit! It was actually a competition for the best dressed, and the prize was a gorge swing in Queenstown. We find out the winner tomorrow.....

Looking good