Paparoa Park and Pancake Rocks

 The day began with a great breakfast at the same place we had dinner. Pancakes with fresh berries or bananas and bacon. My knee did not hurt- I just cut the skin. Good. Just as we were leaving, it began to rain. We put on our rain gear and headed into Paparoa park- a rain forest. Ver lush and tropical. It was ahuge contrast from where we had been the past 4 days. We were now on the west coast. More moisture and greenery. Huge ferns, trees and palms. Horses were at the start of the train and a few followed us for awhile.




It was very Jurassic Park looking. We hiked a loop that took us into the forest and then back around along the Pororari River.









The hiked ended with a short walk along the road and then we were at Pancake Rocks. Very cool area with rocks that were formed by layers and layers of rocks. There were areas with blowholes and the waves on the west coast were huge. Very cool.








We drove to Franz Josef. We stayed at the Rainforest Lodge. We had our own cabin and our area had a hot tub. We had time to change and roam around town a bit before dinner. Found a brewery that also had cider and it was happy hour. Lots of Kiwis in town. Dinner at the lodge.





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