On leaving Karamea We headed to the Wild Food festival at a place called Hokitika but first we had to visit the grey fur seal colony at Cape Foulmouth on the outskirts of Westport. Well worth the effort as there were many adults and pups soaking up the sun on the rocks and in small pool many of the pups were splashing and frolicking around.

We pulled in at a campsite opposite a glow worm dell and with access to a beach renowned for the little blue penguins. Dusk found us sitting on the beach in the hope of spotting the odd penguin coming ashore, out of luck we headed to the glow worm dell and yes they were in residence. Unfortunately photographs do not reflect the flashes of small light that you see with your eyes, you would need a very long exposure and tripod to capture this display. Apparently they are not worms at all but a native fungus gnat larvae with luminescent organs that produces a greenish light attractive to insects which they feed on, the glow worms that shine the brightest are the hungriest.

The following day found us in town at the food festival which is the annual highlight of Hokitika drawing people in from all over the country. It has been going for nearly thirty years and attracts the adventurous eater that wants to try the weird and unusual. Whilst there were some unusual foods on offer ie: huhu grubs both alive and cooked, mountain oysters (sheeps testicles) and gulls eggs but most of it was very ordinary. What was entertaining were the people themselves that had taken this opportunity to dress up weird and wacky either individually or collectively.

Throughout the day we were entertained by a variety of musicians and an air display by the New Zealand Air Force.