It took the best part of 2 hours to get to Cape Foulwind just south of Westport. There was a spectacular beach in the area called Tauranga Bay.
There were four boys surfing and a couple of people with children on the beach otherwise it was empty.
Liz took me around to the rocky headland of Cape Foulwind, so named by Captain Cook because he had bad weather when he was offshore. We followed a cliff pathway round the headland and came to the area where there was a seal colony. They were fur seals, as were all the other seals I have seen. 
This time though there were mothers with pups. Liz took the stunning photo below
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It had been a bit cloudy but as we drove around the bay to find The Bayhouse Cafe for lunch, the sun started to come out. We had a very nice lunch sitting on the veranda overlooking the bay. I had the world's smallest portion of Whitebait and Liz had fishcakes which were not cakes. But it all tasted good.
We then moved on to drive further down the west coast. The scenery became more and more amazing. The sun was shining on the sea. The forest changed to temperate west coast rain forest with tall Nikau palms and lots of tree ferns. It was all lush,original forest or bush, untouched by settlers as this is such remote part of NZ with few settlements. The coastal road became like the Great Ocean Road south of Melbourne, Australia. The road wound around steep cliff faces with sheer drops to the sea and awsome views of long stretches of coastline and rocky headlands.
As as we were going around one bend at about 80 kph we nearly came a cropper. There was a huge tractor travelling at about 30kph with a car and boat on a trailer stuck behind it. There was no way Liz could stop in time. She skillfully avoided impaling us on the prow of the boat by swerving around it and luckily there was nothing coming the other way so she was able to overtake the lot. Phew!!
We drove rather sedately the last few kms to the Pancake Rocks near Punakaiki. They were faabeewlus. There was a walkway which took you down to the rocky headland. Here the limstone was being eroded by the sea to form arches and stacks and coves. In addition the limestone itself had been laid down in such a way that when the weather got at it, it was worn into what looked like stacks of pancakes. I spent a good hour wandering through here. The most amazing thing was the booming noise made by the sea as it bashed against the cove.
The tide was on its way out so the water did not spray up through the blowholes but it was still mighty impressive.
Liz had had a well earned rest from her driving whilst I was browsing. We then set off to go back home. We went south the Greymouth which according to Liz fits its name. A rather Grey industrial town in an area renowned for its coalmining. It was another drive of nearly 2 hours to get back. There were two incidents on the way. The first was when we encountered the fire brigade who were slowing traffic right down. Around the corner we found out why. A large lorry had gone over on its side on the bend and had been on fire. Two camper vans seemed to be involved as they were pulled up on the roadside. We spent a few minutes speculating about the scenario there. Further on we came to a windy bit of road in a gorge and noticed double black tyre marks going around the corner. Clearly a lorry had been braking. We found it around the bend in a ditch and thought that its brakes had failed in some way. Anyway we got home safely and spent another pleasant evening having supper and chatting, joined by Liz's fellow Deputy Principal, Tina. Liz had some superb ham on the bone which she had bought from her local butcher. It was delicious.
