Apologies for all the scenery shots, but there's nothing more deserving of a photograph than it round these parts.

Today we left Motueka and headed east out of Abel Tasman to Nelson and Cable Bay. After a rather heavy night last night, we decided to trek up a hugely steep hill in flip flops, which involved a degree of complaining. The view from the top was pretty decent but considering what we've seen in the past few days I'm not convinced it was worth it. This shot was taken at the bottom of the hill in Cable Bay.

After that we felt we had earned our lunch so went on an extended walk around Nelson town centre to locate something delicious and relatively cheap. For some reason a lot of places were closed because it was Sunday but we found a nice little cafe and fed there. I've spent a lot of time on or around beaches over the past few days but we headed to Nelson and hit the beach there, although it was a bit chilly from the breeze so we hit the bar instead. Only time for one pint though before Ralph and Daisy had to take Vince the little red car back to the rental shop before they went back to Wellington for work tomorrow. Kindly though, they dropped me off at my hostel and gave it the once over to make sure it was up to a high enough standard for me, before fond farewells were said.

I've had an incredible few days until now, and it's going to be a bit different being on my own, but I'm sure Queenstown from tomorrow and Christchurch and Kaikoura after that will be amazing too. I've definitely learned from the time I've spent alone on this trip though that I think I might be done solo travelling, unless it's somewhere I have my heart set on. Like the radio ad says, the finer things in life are better when they're shared with someone special, so I might have to compromise on timing and locations in future in order to have someone to speak to and take my photo (haven't mastered the self timer).

Anyway, the hostel seems decent so far, and I've already washed and tumble dried my clothes and negotiated a lift to the airport tomorrow from the hostel owner. I'm considering taking a walk into town to locate some thai food for take away but I'm aware that they might shut so not gonna get my heart set...