after the pancake rocks, we drove south along the coast toward the town of Franz Josef. there wasn't much between Greymoth and Franz Josef, but we stopped at a helicopter tour pulloff, mainly so we could stretch our legs. there was a short little walk through the woods and along this river:


while walking along the river, two helicopters flew by. finn was very impressed.



up close, he was a little intimidated by the noise:



there were lots of helicopter tours in the glacier country and on Mt. Cook. finn flipped whenever he heard or saw one of them and would request more when they flew on. (his more sounds like 'moe').

brenna asked how much gas was. the van used diesel, which was NZ$1.03 per liter. that's equivalent to NZ$4.68 per gallon, but with the exchange rate, something like US$2.66 per gallon. regular gas was a bit more expensive there. overall, the trip wasn't terribly expensive because of the exchange rate. (other than the plane ticket which was $2100 for finn and i... debbie's was paid for).