Hurunui Jacks

Next stop was Hokitika, a quiet coastal town with a surprising wealth of natural beauty. We arrived to The Nest at Hurunui Jack's, a cottage with a personalized welcome sign. Small but cozy, we settled in. As we admired the outdoor bath we were accosted by bugs. I was bitten easily 8 times in about 3 minutes. I retreated inside and was please to find bug spray.

The next morning before Natalie and I woke Jeff did some mountain biking, only to find half way into the ride that the brakes were out on his bike. After a spectacular crash, he made it home (with the all important right hand spared from injury - so he can still paint). We checked the brakes on the other bikes and all headed out biking the trail, with Natalie on Jeff's handle bars. No more crashes and nice cool morning breezes. The bugs can't keep up with the bikes.

We drove to the waterfall and had a picnic, and then to the gorge with the azure blue pools and a swinging bridge. We took a look at the local driftwood sculpture contest and had some Hungarian fried bread (yum). We were also able to see more glowworms that night at the Dell. I will never get tired of those.