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We got up ready to leave the hostel at 9am. We are heading to Lake Mahinapua from Westport today. On the way we stopped at Cape Foulwind and Tauranga Bay where we did a 40 minute walk to one of New Zealand's largest seal colonies. It is here that New Zealand is the closest point to Australia. After we left here we headed to Paparoa National Park for a short 15 minute walk. Then we drove to the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes and did another 30 minute walk. The Pancake Rocks are a series of stratified limestone stacks which, over many thousands of years, have been eroded to resemble giant piles of neatly stacked pancakes. Another prominent feature is the blowholes. At high tide or in heavy weather, the blowholes explode with a spectacular spray. We left Punakaiki and went to Greymouth. We stopped here for 2 hours to get our Halloween outfits for tonights party. Greymouth is the chief commercial centre of the West Coast with a population of about 12,000 people. The town was founded on gold, continued on coal and now relies on industries such as timber, coal, sheep, dairy and greenstone. Pounamu or Nephrite Jade has a huge significance to Maori. From here we headed to Hokitika briefly and then we arrived at Lake Mahinapua Hotel (Poo Pub) where we are staying for 1 night. We met the owner of the pub - Les Lisle. He is New Zealand's oldest and most eccentric publican. After checking in we headed down to see Lake Mahinapua and then walked to the beach. At 7pm we enjoyed a delicious group steak meal cooked by Les and our driver Cam. We tried Les' famous cuisine - venison stew (Bambi meat). It was very tasty. After dinner everyone got ready for the evening's themed party which is Halloween. I was a devil and Gina was a dead cheerleader. It was a fantastic night and everyone had loads of fun. After the party I headed back to our dorm room but Gina and some others went to the lake for a bit. I heard that some skinny dipping took place lol.
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