The good news is that we are not among the 970 tourists stranded near Franz Josef . The bad news is that we will not be seeing the Fox Glacier, a visual climax to our trip.

A massive slip blocking State Highway 6 on the West Coast will take at least six weeks to fix, Westland District Council Mayor Bruce Smith said.

“We’re a bit stunned today and it’s fair to say it’s extremely bad news for our tourism sector,” he said.

Smith confirmed 970 tourists were stuck in Franz Josef, which was cut off after slips left large stretches of SH6 closed. https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/118037051/tourists-stuck-in-franz-josef-after-heavy-rains-wash-away-highway?cid=app-android

. We will spend an extra night in Queensland and take a slow trek eastward to Christ Church to catch some of the sights along that would have been missed by a cross-country flight.

We  arrived in Auckland Monday afternoon and met the rest of our contingent, increasing our numbers to sixteen.  The five of us knew we would lose something  in the transition, but had songs and stories that popped up to remind us of our first five days together.

 Monday night found us at the Occidental, a local Belgian restaurant. The beer was amazing, brewed by Brouwerij Huyghe. Dinner was venison pie. Probably the most exotic meal so far, although the baked Kingfish at the Duke of Marborough Saturday night in Russell, Bay of Islands, was probably the best.

Our full group at the Maori-carved welcome gate.

Next, three days in Auckland. The weather looks wet.