My idea of heaven

Sunday 14th. Valentines Day. Oh well, next year perhaps. 

Spent a pleasant breakfast chatting to some Chinese tourists. Six in total. Lovely people. Amazingly, some of them have so little English that they use their mobile phones as interpreters. The trouble is that the phone doesn't seem to be able to translate from English to Chinese. So David the host knew what they wanted but had difficulty explaining why they couldn't have it. Amazing what he did with sign language! He also knew that the Chinese like a certain style of pancake so he would make them specially for breakfast. 

After we had said our farewells we went along to the Anglican Church for morning service. We both enjoyed the New Zealand form of communion and had a good sing even though there was no organist. Afterwards we went through to the hall for tea and sausage rolls, etc. Just like Bradwell really. We were made most welcome and they asked us to take their greetings back to our home church. 

Then we set off up the west coast. I hadn't thought that the scenery could have got any better but it did. We didn't have far to go but we just had to keep stopping to look at the views. 

We stopped for quite a while at Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes. The rocks are basically limestone but they are all layered. Scientists have advanced theories as to how these layers came about but it is all still a mystery. As the waves have come against the rocks, areas have been hollowed out and blow holes and surge pools have been created. 

Eventually the rocks will be totally eroded away by the sea but for the moment the pounding of the surf is a never ending drama. 

For lunch we stopped by the road and finished off the homemade rolls from breakfast. 

And so the drive continued. 

At last we arrived at our next B&B. Like the scenery, I hadn't thought that B&Bs could have got much better but this one has. 

Our room overlooks the sea and the room itself is wonderful. 

We had a brief walk round to work out the layout of the place when our host, Patricia, asked if we would like a glass of Pimms. We got chatting and found out that she played the Ukelele. The outcome was that we then had an impromptu concert with two Ukelele, a drum and three voices. Luckily there are no neighbours nearby as we sang and played for about three hours. Once again, we're in heaven.