Will it ever stop raining?

It rained all through the night - it rained so hard that it woke me up at times. As we left Greymouth early this morning, the attendant at the petrol station said that the weather report on the telly said one thing, the report in the paper said another, and the radio said another thing. As we drove south on SH 6 toward the glaciers, the weather report said "rain with some clearing" today, Saturday, and Sunday. We wondered - does that mean its going to clear up or rain?

From New Zealand

In our search for breakfast in Greymouth, the grocery store was still closed at 7 am, so we went to get petrol before heading south. The bakery next door had lots of cookies with frosting and all different types of meat pies, but nothing we could eat for breakfast in the car (without it ending up on our shirts, anyway), so we stopped in Hokitika and ate a cafe. We made it to Franz Joseph glacier in the late morning, and it had briefly stopped raining. We went for a 2 hour hike to the terminal face & took some excellent pictures. Then, we drove 25 km south to Fox glacier, to find a tour of hiking or flying us over the mountains and glaciers. GP was feeling sick, so we checked into a hotel & he slept for a bit. By 3:00, the clouds moved back in and it began raining again. Ugh. The guide recommended we wait until tomorrow to see if it clears before deciding upon flying up to the glaciers. So, we hiked to the terminal face of the Fox glacier (yes, in the rain), and then we hiked across a swing bridge. (It was a little unnerving).

We are staying the Fox glacier township tonight at the Raintree Motel (which we think is a bit overpriced & would not recommend to friends - nice enough owners though) and will drive south to Arrowtown or Glenorchy tomorrow, depending on what we do in the morning (which of course, all depends on whether it continues to rain or whether it clears.) We had a fantastic dinner at Cafe Neve - Greg had steak and I had the lamb (would definitely recommend to friends).

And, most importantly, we found a wi-fi connection. It isn't free but it's something!