After Greymouth and before arriving at the Abel Tasman National Park we stopped at the Punakaiki Pancake rocks on the north west coast. This is a series of rock formations that rise up out of the sea as tall pillars, each pillar is made up of thin layers of stone stacked on top of each other. The rocks make for an impressive view and in places had come together to form blowholes that shot water high up into the air when a big wave was forced through the gap. The view and noise from the blowholes was spectacular. After an hour or so of walking around here we returned to the camper and continued on up the coast, arriving at Abel Tasman by nightfall.

The next day we got up early at set off on the Abel Tasman coastal walk, which was a 5 hour round trip. The walk was very pretty with views of the jungle growing on the edge of the sea. We walked on the beach and through the ferns eventually coming out on a row of rocks that jutted out into the sea, we walked along this to look out across the ocean towards the north island. We returned to the camper for around lunchtime and continued on our road trip in the direction of Nelson. We made it to Nelson for mid afternoon and had a quick walk around the town. For quite a large place is was surprisingly quiet. All the shops, cafes and restaurants had already shut up and the streets were empty. Not what we expected on a saturday afternoon!! We decided we would back track a little and visit a little village called Mapua instead. We arrived in Mapua just as it was going dark and found a place to park up for the night.

The next morning we found a campsite in Mapua and parked up on a grassy area overlooking the sea - very pretty. The sun was out and so we finally managed to get out the picnic table and chairs and had an alfresco lunch. Mapua is a very pretty little place with a couple of pubs, a brewery and a few restaurants. That evening we had a walk down to the restaurants and enjoyed fish and chips on the decking over looking the sea.

The next day we made the short drive back to Nelson and had a walk around the shops, during their open hours, before continuing on to Picton. Picton was the last stop on the south island for us and was where we would get the ferry across the Cook Strait. We spent a couple of days in Picton although there wasn't anything to do there. We walked around the few shops they had and took advantage of the free wifi in the library. On the third day we were up bright and early and queuing up at the marina ready to drive the camper onto the ferry. Thankfully Ben was driving as they requested that vehicles be reversed into the ferry! We were first on, which meant Ben had to reverse down a narrow, dimly passageway, all the way to the back of the boat. Once parked we walked up the stairs to the upper decks and found comfy armchairs where we settled for our 3 hour crossing to Wellington.