Abel Tasman National Park

After leaving Kaikoura we had to get the train to Picton and then meet up with the bus to take us to Nelson. The train was late so we got in a panic about meeting the bus, but I have to say the staff on the train were excellent they called ahead to Picton and arranged for the bus to wait 30 mins for us to arrive - that would never happen in Ireland or Scotland. We arrived in Nelson (which boasts the most sunny hours anywhere in NZ) and it's a really laid back nice place, close to beaches, a large harbour and of course Abel Tasman National Park.

Today (22nd) we were up early to make a packed lunch and head for Abel Tasman National Park for a walk (or as they call it over here a tramp). The national park is located at the north west of the south island and is a huge expanse of bush with a stunning golden sand coast line and turquoise sea. Our coach dropped us of at the start of the park (Kaiteriteri) and we hopped on a boat to take us up to Torrent Bay which was the start of our 13km walk back to meet the bus. On the way the boat took us past the split in the rock (basically a huge boulder in the sea that nature has cracked in half). When we got to the shore in Torrent Bay we were met with swarms of wasps and since a lot of the trek today would be through bush we applied a shit load of insect repellant (I'm taking no chances anymore) and a load of sunscreen as the sun was beating down mercilessly. The walk takes between 4 and 5 hours so we headed of to check out Cleopatra's Pool (which we had been told was worth the 1 hour side trek) - this meant having to make it across a bay (the tide being out) that was full of swampy sand and little sea rivers running across it, it took us about an hour of fannying around before we made it to the pool and what an anti climax it was - basically just a little rock pool. Whoopey do, i've seen better things in Garvald as a kid. We stopped for lunch and then started the trek to Marahau where the bus would be collecting us. It was a really nice walk along a well kept track, through native bush and the occasional glimpse of the beaches and the sea. We just took our time, stopping for some grub and photo opportunities but it was harder going than we had thought due to the fact you are constantly going up and down the range of hills. Both our feet were really starting to get sore and we were ecstatic when we actually made it to the finish line so to speak. Exhausted we both fell asleep on the coach and awoke in Nelson. As a reward to ourselves we went out for an Indian where I indulged in a vindaloo good god it was hot - nice but bloody hot. The plan was to have a few beers but to be honest we were both so tired that we just came home and crashed out. Oh and not a single insect bite at all on either of us, can you beleive it.



We leave Nelson on Fri and head to Greymouth before making our way to yet another one of the highlights of the trip - the glaciers of Fox and Franz Josef. Bring it on.