Yesterday we made the final stint of our trip up the west coast of the South Island with our journey from Punakaiki to Nelson. Not a particuarly long journey around four hours but we were let down by our "perfect" hostel.

Although check out is at 10a.m. most hostels are happy for you to hang around and use the facilities until you're ready to go or your bus leaves. Unfortunately with this place being 4km from where the bus leaves from we had to rely on the manager to give us a ride. On the way here they were happy to pick you up when your bus arrived but when it came to leaving we felt she just wanted us out of there and was adament the only time we could go was ten thirty. Our bus wasnt leaving until three thirty! Understandably she can not make ten trips a day but there was only us to take and all the bus companies pass through Punakaiki mid afternoon! So we had five hours to kill and with the town consisting of two cafes and a small shop it meant some card playing and a few coffees!

We arrived into Nelson just after sunset but in clear weather so our first impressions were it was a pretty big (compared to what we have been used to) but pretty town unfortunately with the exception of a quick run around town that is all we have seen as we have been made well and truly at home with the pouring rain!

So with a day spent indoors we treated ourselves to a meal out which was strangely hard to find, in the end we took an Italian which was lovely and good to eat a big meal! For dessert we headed back to the hostel where they serve a free chocolate pudding and ice cream every evening. I think you can understand why I chose the place!

We're not too worried by the bad weather here and if we can trust the weather forecast it will be clear before our next important stop!