It was raining very heavily when we woke - we visited the "Pancake Rocks" nearby in all our wet weather gear but still got soaked through. The weather warnings on the radio were for severe weather, gales, tempest etc.
Being somewhat risk adverse and aware also of stories that some of the roads along the coast had experienced landslides - we drove slowly for just a few hours down the coast then stopped around lunch time at "Birdsong" a really nice little hostel in Hokitika.
The rain absolutely poured down so other than a trip to the supermarket to pick up some supplies we bunkered down in the hostel by a wood fire, reading our books, considering some itineraries and looking out across the ocean.
