Decisions need to be made on 08/04/2018

A few days ago, we left the remote town of Karamea and started our journey back to Westport. Although we were fascinated by the nature further north, we were looking forward to a bit more civilization.
The campground in Karamea didn't say goodbye at its best. Cockroaches watched us while we had breakfast, the shower remained cold, and the moldy shower curtain was looking for a comforting hug - no thanks!
In Westport, after a successful visit to the library, we restocked our supply of fresh vegetables and fruits. While doing so, we had our first encounter with the so-called "Feijioa". Since we didn't know much about the fruit, we asked the employee in the produce section. He quickly shared his knowledge: "The fruits should not feel too firm or too soft; the lighter they are, the more flavor they have; they are eaten like kiwifruit - cut in half and scoop out the flesh." Since the fruits are currently in season, we packed four of them. It didn't take long before we tried the green guavas. The taste was initially a bit unusual, but we still liked the sweet, slightly bitter flavor. They will be on the shopping list more often in the future. ;)
In the afternoon, we planned the rest of our travel route. We made the decision to stay a bit longer on the South Island of New Zealand. Due to the bad weather, we didn't see much of the West Coast. We decided to go back to the south to visit the glacier region again.

The next morning, it rained continuously, so not much happened. In the afternoon, the cloud cover cleared up, so we took a closer look at the city of Westport. But it wasn't really spectacular. However, we were able to find a German café that offered German pastries and savory treats. We decided to get a piece of streusel cake and a Berliner donut to take away. We quickly drove to the beach and enjoyed the two pastries that tasted just like home. Even the homemade Berliner was crispy and fluffy at the same time. Yummyy!
After the delicious lunch break, we visited the seal colony at "Tauranga Bay" again. Since the sea was much rougher this time, there was some excitement among the marine mammals. Hardly any baby seals were visible in the safe pools, and there weren't many adult seals on land either. Nevertheless, we enjoyed watching the animal activity for a while.

The next day, we said goodbye to Westport. The journey to Hokitika was ahead of us. Once again, we drove through plenty of rainforest, which lived up to its name. We made a short stop in Greymouth to replenish our food supplies for the next week and quench the car's thirst. When we reached Hokitika after two and a half hours, we were exhausted. Driving on New Zealand's roads can sometimes be very time-consuming and exhausting. Especially on the West Coast, there are many roadworks and sections where traffic is regulated by traffic lights due to landslides and storm damage. It often happened that we stood still for five minutes or longer because the section was only single lane.

After spending the night in Hokitika, we started the morning motivated. However, the search for greenstone was unsuccessful this time. The tide was just coming in, so only a small part of the beach was accessible. But as the Maori say so beautifully: "The greenstone finds its owner" and so it wasn't meant to be on that day.
After visiting the library, we drove further to the "Franz Josef Glacier". Here, we took the opportunity to do some laundry. Because rarely do the campsites have washing machines with hot water. Now we were fully equipped again for the coming days.

The day started promisingly. At 06:30 am, we witnessed a beautiful sunrise from the campground, and the glacier was visible without obstructions. But then the day turned out to be a washout.

Why does it rain so incredibly often and heavily in the region? Warm, moist air is brought over the Tasman Sea towards the coast. Since the high mountains and glaciers are not far from the coast, the clouds are intercepted and rapidly cooled down. Therefore, the region is one of the rainiest in all of New Zealand.

So we decided to at least be somewhat productive and focus on the memory cards of our cameras. After over five months of traveling, they are already full - unfortunately also with many blurry pictures that need to be deleted to make room for new ones. At least on that day, we managed to go through and sort out a 32GB memory card. In the meantime, many "old" memories came up. Pictures from the airport in Frankfurt. The first days in Auckland. The search for the car. The beginning of our road trip. The first hikes. And so on, and so on. We are already looking forward to printing out the blog completely in Germany and keeping it as a book as a memory. - But our time in New Zealand is far from over! :)