Travel day today and of course, had a rubbish nights' sleep. The cave troll above me was up & active again for significant chunks of the night, so got up & got going at 6am and everything sorted and to the ferry okay with time to spare. (When I get back to the UK, I am going to spend a week simply staying in bed until after 9am, I am not going to get up until after that, to try and redress some of the balance of all these early starts. Absolutely no point trying at big sis's, they are all up at the crack of stupid o'clock anyway, but at least there I can go back to bed when everyone's gone!!).

Ferry was fine (bizarrely I noticed it is an old English Channel ferry The Pride of Cherbourg!!), but quite a long journey, I didn't realise how far inland Picton is on the northeast coast. Picked up my new hire car and thankfully they swapped me from another Suzuki Vitara, to a smaller Hyundai, which is far more fuel efficient - I am so pleased, that Vitara was costing me a fortune in fuel!!

Drove from Picton, on the north east coast, to Punakaiki on the west coast, which was actually a very lovely drive. Started out in brilliant midday sunshine in Picton and wended my way through the Marlborough vineyards, then essentially followed some river gorges through the mountains to the west coast. Okay, the roads got tortuous again and it was a 4 hour + drive, but honestly, it was worth it. I had looked at some other routes, going down the East coast in easier stages, but as I want to go to Te Anau, at some point I was going to have to make some hefty 4 to 5 hour drives, so, I thought, what the heck, this is the way I want to come, to see the things I want to see and today would be the worst day as I wasn't starting driving until gone midday.

The scenery here is equally as breathtaking as in the North Island, but is definitely more rugged I think than most of the North Island I saw, more mountains where I drove today. Sadly the cloud came in as I drove, though it started to break up as I reached my destination, late afternoon. I have to say, I'm really pleased with my hotel choice this time. This is a lovely little boutique eco hotel, just outside Punakiaki, okay it's on the main road (but quite frankly, I'd call this a poor A road rather than a state highway), but the room is lovely, I have a great sea view (seriously, the only thing between me and the beach is my balcony and the car park!) and the bed is very very comfy. First thing I did on check in, sat on my balcony with a cup of tea and watched the waves, very nice. Almost seems a shame I'm only staying one night, to see the main attraction here, the Pancake Rocks, but there are lots of outdoorsy type things to do in the National Park nearby, so I can see why people would stay here for a while.

Treated myself to a nice dinner in the restaurant, not the biggest menu in the world, but very nice, especially with a glass of wine to wash it down with, which I'm sure will help me sleep well tonight. Am planning to sleep in until the giddy hour of 8am tomorrow, such luxury!!

The hotel staff have been very helpful and it is a small chain, with a couple of other hotels in the South Island, which helpfully are in the plan I'm on, so I've changed my Wanaka & Christchurch choices and got the receptionist to book me into the Wanaka one on the recommendation from the staff here. Honestly, if they are anything like the one here, they will be a very welcome improvement on the ones I stayed in on the North Island. Spent a little time updating the blog and my travel plans with a little rugby on the side and then I'm going to wallow in my lovely bed, with the heating on!! Yes, it is getting that cold here at night now, getting down to freezing at night here in the South Island, so I have indulged in some heating!!

Off to the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes tomorrow morning, which are a 300m walk from the hotel and then another 4 hour drive down to the Franz Josef Glacier, so hopefully will be there about early afternoon. Hope to book a trip up to the Glacier, but might need to by a coat somewhere along the way, as I suspect it will be too cold for just a tshirt and fleece!!