31st December

The house was full of people last night so I had to sleep on the floor, not liking the plan of going halves in a bed, which I find is thought nothing of here. I got up at 4 a.m. and called the others. We soon got breakfast and at 6 a.m. got away and rode to Mr Duppa's station. We took four hours to get through the bush. On the Wairau side we halted at the 'top house'. It is situated in a very pretty spot near a birch forest with the river below, some way off. It was an inn but has been deserted on account of the distance from the only place where supplies are to be had. Here we remained for two hours to let our horses feed and then went on to Mr Duppa's.