Tim's detour - The longest way to get from Franz Joseph to Hanmer Springs !!!

We knew it would be a long day in the van today, around 300 km, so why not add an extra 250 km to see some flat rocks and a gorge....so we booked onto Tim's tours -with additional mileage option..

Probably the nearest to meltdown so far -well we have done really well so far with biting our tongues through slightly stressful family moments.... but as we wound our way up and down long winding mountain passes, along miles of desolate beaches it tested our humour to the limit , well those in the back anyway.....We stopped eventually to see the Punakaiki Rocks which I have to admit were simply amazing ...the Buller Gorge some 100km on though was not !!

William was enthralled.... as per the photo, I ate too much chocolate and Lowenna passed the time scouring the map finding mountains with daft names like Mt.Technical and Mt.Hopeless and Mt.Misery, well that was apt !

Anyway... we all got to the end...after 520 odd km,  Hanmer Springs and the very long drive has bought us two days of hardly any driving so well worth it....and we did pass amazing scenery changes from rainforest on the West Coast to the bare mountains of the East.....

Tim did a sterling job at ignoring us all jibing him from the cheap seats in the back and I cooked fab supper for him to say thanks for the great tour...and gave him a very large glass of wine

Tomorrow is another day..