As always, it was time to leave. After four nights we’d become very attached to the hostel, it’s owner David, and had made great friends with Linda and Brigitte, a couple of German-speakers staying there. But all good things come to an end, and we had to move up the coast towards our ferry connection to the North Island. Everything was packed up into our rucksacks again, and carried down the hill by David – and to Charlotte’s glee she was carried down too!

Then it was all-into-the-car for another epic journey – six hours driving to Golden Bay, to a small hostel called the Innlet in Pakawau. The drive, as ever, was spectacular, and the best bit was finding that the hostel had an outdoors bath in the woods.

So after the drive I soaked myself in the bush, enjoying the fresh air and no engine noise. (Our hire car is cheap, but sadly the radio only makes a sort of ‘tinny thrashing’ noise, so we don’t get to drown out the engine with our CD collection!)