We awoke after nearly 10 hours sleep to the sounds of waves crashing onto the shore of the nearby beach. After breakfast and another walk along the beach we continued north on Highway 6, never too far from the coast and first stopped at Ross, an historic gold mining town where over ten tons of gold was mined in the late19th century and commercial opencast mining continues.Then on to Hokitika for a wander, an area famous for Jade which is mined nearby and had to try the whitebait sandwich which is a local delicacy - quite tasty! As we continued on the road we pulled off for lunch adjacent to the beach in Taranakau Scientific Reserve and had a breezy walk along the beach and collected a few Jade pebbles before heading into Greymouth the final place as had planned to visit on our tour of New Zealand for a short walk and an ice cream. We Left Greymouth starting our return journey to Christchurch and parked up for the night by the side of Lake Brunner leaving just over 200Km to travel tomorrow.

Further news on the Christmas front!!!!! We have been listening to The Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer story on the radio this morning and have seen the first Christmas Tree decorated in a house in Ross and lastly for today the Christmas SALES push has started on the radio.

Distance travelled - 137Km