Spectacular!

That's really the only word to describe the west coast of New Zealand. We began in the north, in a forest with palm trees. Wandering south we have, variously: hiked to see seals playing on the rocks; watch western swells crash against the shore; seen a sunset; walked the beaches looking for jade; and kayaked on a sea-side lagoon in a double kayak looking for birds.

If that were all we had done that would be more than enough, but that was just yesterday. Today we took a helicopter ride up and around Mt. Cook (New Zealand's highest mountain) and landed on the Fox Glacier. We went to a salmon farm and had fresh caught salmon sashimi. We tried our hand at an amazingly hard maze. And we finished off watching the sun set again -- this time over amazing Lake Wanaka -- a 40 km long freshwater glacial lake that is absolutely stunning.

In many ways New Zealand is like the mountain West of the US -- but in most ways it is simply unique.

West Coast New Zealand

Today we began our drive down the west coast of New Zealand. It's amazing country -- rugged and windswept. We saw seals lazing on the rocks and watched water surge into the tidal pools creating spray and rainbows galore.

This evening we stopped at the Rocks Homestay in Punakaiki. Far and away the best place we've been -- a small eco-friendly home run by two Swiss expats, it comes with a home cooked dinner, breakfast tomorrow and a great room with the most magnificent view for miles around.

Here is a taste of sunset in Punakaiki: