After Abel Tasman we were heading to the West coast and to get there we drove through the Buller Gorge which was absolutely beautiful. The trees were starting to change colour and the sun was shining, it was a really nice drive. That night we camped in a field in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees, a little bit like the hills have eyes!

We drove to Westport on the coast the following day, we parked up on the beach at lunch and had leftover curry watching the waves roll in, after 3 months of power travelling in South America we were making the most of the slower pace.

After lunch we carried on to the Punakaiki Pancake rocks which are huge rock formations in the shape of stacks of pancakes, it was nice as the sun was shining for a change so afterwards we went for a walk down the Truman track to a beach but we didn't make it onto the beach as there were too many sandflies, they bite like mad and itch like hell after!

That evening we pulled up right on the beach front, the coastline here is really rugged so it was an amazing setting. We lit the BBQ, got the deckchairs out, cracked open a beer and settled in to watch the sunset. We had the entire place to ourselves and then a car pulled up and the guy got out and asked us if we were staying the night there as they were looking for somewhere to camp as well. We were but our van is self contained and so we were allowed to, there's wasn't so they needed a proper campsite. Ultimately though it's up to them if they want to risk it as they could get fined but Casson kept banging on about how they shouldn't camp there, to the point where I thought he was the self contained police!

They eventually moved on to be replaced by a van load of Chinese taking pictures of the sunset, Casson seemed annoyed that they were there but I didn't really take much notice. After they left I remember thinking that everything was perfect, just the 2 of us chilling out with a beer watching an amazing sunset, I was loving New Zealand and then ....... Casson was down on one knee proposing! I couldn't have been more shocked, he cannot hold his own water and tells me every surprise before he should as he gets so excited and yet he'd carried a ring round for nearly 4 months without me knowing! Whilst completely shocked I was also really happy and of course I said yes!

Afterwards he told me that when he was in the van getting the ring he thought I must have known what he was doing as I kept looking round to see where he was, I did but only because I was worried he was burning the sausages. It also made sense why he'd bordered on being rude to the guy who was looking for somewhere to camp and why he was giving the Chinese family the evil eye, he wouldn't have been able to do it if they'd been there.

Sunsets on the beach are one of my favourite things and we had the whole beach to ourselves, he couldn't have picked a better spot.

In both our words .... "s***s just got serious" :-)