We had a relatively leisurely morning and decided not to rush before we had to check out at 10am. This also meant that the clothes had time to line dry before we set out for the day!

Our first stop was at pancake rocks, a very well kept Department Of Conservation 'attraction'. The rocks are all layered like pancakes stacked on top of one another. There were some impressive looking blow holes too, but we weren't there at the right tide time to see any in action.

We drove on, in search of coffee - the lodge we looked for last night (which, it turned out was literally a stone's throw from the campsite!) had a broken machine, and anyone that knows Stef knows that he cannot deign to drink instant coffee. NZ is literally coffee mad, with proper coffee and trained baristas (who are taught, amongst other things I'm sure, how to make lovely patterns in the milk froth) every couple of miles or so; unfortunately for Stef we were in the middle of nowhere this time, so his caffeine hit would have to wait.

Our drive took us up the coast, where we detoured to see a seal colony. Recommended in the guide book for fans of Animal Planet, it seemed a good stop off for us. At first it was difficult to see any seals against the rocks as their fur blends in so well. Then we saw one, then four, and some more. The info board told us it was the start of mating season, when the males establish their territory. Two male seals then proceeded to have an almighty scrap. Their fight was brutal, we could see lots of blood. Luckily one seal backed down before anyone was seriously injured. He would need to go and find some territory of his own.

We again had a car park lunch, but it was with a pleasant view of the sea. Good sustenance to drive on. We had read that Nelson was a nice place ("NZ's most liveable city" by all accounts) and thought it would be good to head for there. We were debating whether we could get into Abel Tasman National Park from there though, and decided to have a planning session at Murchison - our next petrol filling place.

Murchison turned out to have some character. The coffee shop we stopped in was a converted service station, and decorated like the cool bars that are popping up in Cardiff these days, with a mish mash of furniture, interesting art on the walls; offering good coffee, food and beers. It also had an i-site, so we decided we would get good information for planning there.

We decided to go on a recommendation of staying in Marahau rather than Nelson, much closer to the AT NP entrance, and also to book in for an all-day kayak trip. We got to the campsite after taking a scenic route through Kaitiritiri. There were sand flies galore here too unfortunately! Stef bought beers to test if that would ward them off... It was another gourmet food night of pasta (seasoned with a cuppa soup since we had no salt), pesto and tuna. Yum!!! We were put to shame cooking next to people who were preparing themselves proper meals, like Bolognese.

We went for a nice walk along the coastline, admiring the very yellow/golden sand on the beaches, and tried to find the entrance to the national park. We inadvertently walked over a field right on the coast which had a couple of seemingly abandoned caravans, and then arrived at a Private Property sign. We turned back, still wondering where the track was, and had to climb over a fence which had a sign for Private Property on that too (owned by a very futuristic sounding Landcorp). We walked a bit further but decided to head back to the campsite for the night, seeing a hedgehog cross the road in front of us en route.

Stef had a beer outside the camper van to test the sandfly theory - inconclusive - and Cerys read a bit inside before turning in for the night.