D woke early, to blue skies & sunshine, & set about sorting out breakfast and packed lunch (with limited supplies!). Once everyone was fed, & the morning chores done, drove south to Nugget Point & walked up to the lighthouse. Saw more seals, mutton birds & spoonbills. Then walked to a hide above the beach, but no yellow eyed penguins (wrong time of the day!)

Short, sunny, drive to Owaka, & a supermarket stop for food supplies. Then onto Purakanui Falls for a short walk, a family photo, & lunch in the sun! Another short walk to Matai & Horseshoe Falls, then a very brief stop at Florence Hill Lookout ("Lookout, Florence!") - lovely view of curving sandy beach & the coastline - before descending to Tautuku Bay, & a 10 min walk on the sand.

Cathedral Caves was closed, due to unsafe access, so the next stop was Mclean Falls: 15 min walk through prehistoric looking forest, to a tall, stepped waterfall with easy access to the water's edge. Brief stop at the ironically named Niagara Falls of New Zealand (very, very small), where we watched a local chap catching whitebait (& met Charlie the dog!).

Drove through Curio Bay to the Fossil Forest, & showed the kids the silicated tree trunks. A good walkway & information boards have been built since D&L were here last time - it's funny how you imaging that things will stay the same, even though over a decade has passed!

Headed towards Slope Point, & stayed at the Slope Point Backpackers - a farmstay - & watched some sheep shearing, which the kids loved! Met Anna, aged 7, who befriended the children & took them off to play on the trampoline & in the playhouse, whilst L sorted the cabin & D cooked (cauliflower cheese!)

After tea, J had a very productive guitar lesson (G+C scales, plus D+A open chords). Kids not asleep until late (9.15), then D&L chatted to a nice young German couple for a while before turning in.