Once we got to Wellington we drove to the other side of the coast to find a freedom camping spot a French couple that we bumped in to a couple of times on the South Island told us about. It was a cool spot looking out onto the crashing waves. The next morning we woke up and had some COLD showers and just as we were about to head off . . . The same French couple pulled in!!! It was mad as we hadn't seen them since mid December! It was cool to catch up and then we wished each other safe travels and went into Wellington to meet up with Lauren for a coffee. It was awesome to see her again and hang out for a bit. We said our goodbyes and drove up the west coast. The French couple also mentioned another free place that we could camp. It was in a place called Hokiko Beach. It was a really cute little town where you could drive onto the beach and park on the sand surrounded by sand dunes. It was amazing! There was no one else there. The wind was howling so we made a cool wind break with our tarpaulin. The next morning we woke to the waves crashing on the beach. A nice local guy on his quad came over to warn us that there was a storm coming in and he was worried for us if we were staying another night. Luckily we weren't! We drove up the coast some more and stopped at a beach to look out at an island just up the coast. We noticed after a while that up the beach there were hundreds of people. We weren't sure what was going on but we decided to walk up and have a look. An old male sperm whale had died in the sea and had been washed up on the shore. It was really sad to see this magnificent animal lying in the waves but the DOC lady reassured us that the whale seemed like he had died of old age. DOC and the police were very good at managing the crowd and giving information whilst protecting the animal. They were waiting for the tide to go out and the Maori's to come to collect the whale where they would have a ceremony and bury the body. Walking back down the beach we realised that lots of things get pulled up onto the shore with the current as there was LOADS of driftwood and fish lying on the sand.