Independence day! Ahead of us was a 6 hour journey through the north of the country towards Marahau where we would be kayaking. Stopping pretty much at every look out and beach on the way up the west coast, not out of our choice but camera girl 1 and camera girl 2, and through small remote towns as we cut inland was amazing. We probably wouldn't have done that had we drove up on our own so thank you girls :) Not far from Nelson we looked up and saw the moon shining loud in all it's might and once again ahead of us we saw the Tongoroa stop for some admiring, however this time on the wrong side of the road which we got a telling off for by some guy in a sweet American mussel car. Ian waiting in the van thought that he had kidnapped me. Haha. Stopping at McDonalds in Nelson to abuse their free wifi finding double big macs and quarter pounders we headed to Marahau but due to the time of night we found a spot about half hour away called Hawkes Lookout where we set camp for the sleeps ahead. Being independence day for the American allies we had to celebrate. Drinking beers in the back of Tongoroa, waving the smallest USA flag I've ever seen and enjoying stomach hurting laughter at photos of the celebrations was the events of that evening. Probably their favourite independence day celebrations. Falling asleep for 3 hours was not enough rest for a big couple days of kayaking ahead of us.