Visited the wild west coast

Back in Christchurch tonight having spent the week on the west coast paddling in the Tasman Sea and bieng eaten by the sand flies - the scenery was of course speactacular - we drove through Arthurs Pass and out to Greymouth were we stayed in a "Top 10 Holiday Camp" - not my thing at all in fact but we were camped just the other side of the sand dunes and the sound of the waves was lovely - Went to Hokitiki which was a nice litle town and did a walk around there and them camped in a "DOC" dept on Conservation campground with just the basics and that was good - woke to the sound of bellbirds - headed further south but north of the Franz Joseph glacier to Okarito which Cosmo had recommended and that was lovely - a time little community on the beach and about 12km off the main road - went out on a boat to see the lagoon and the bird life - white herons especially which were exciting -
was taken with the amount of space - huge river valleys, enormous hills with twisty roads and the sparcity of population - the amount of vegetaion and reserves - and amazingly only 3 deciduous native trees in NZ!
Had a lovely visit with Cosmo and Sarah last w/e in Lyttleton and their little people Scarlett and Thomas - It was a special visit and I felt very welcomed by them and hope to meet Cosmo's parents later this year in France -
So now my plans are unsure but I'm likley to put my bike on a bus down to Dunedin and spend time there and then do the rail trail in central Otago - will keep you posted -