Booking in was fine and pleasant. After getting to my room, I realised I had left a very important backpack at my home in Greymouth and knew I had to return to get it. Thinking I would only get back to Picton in time to catch the morning ferry, I returned the key.
On my drive back to Greymouth, a friend from there contacted me, saying he was driving the pack towards me and we would meet in Murchison.
That was going to halve my journey and I would be back in Picton in good time to get some sleep in the room I had paid for, so I tried calling the motel, absolutely no luck getting a hold of anyone via phone number, after hours service worked not at all, so I spent the night sleeping in my car.