Last few days in South Island: Abel Tasman at last!

V and the world's biggest rucksack (Nelson, NZ 14 Sept 07)
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Having exhausted ourselves on the Queen Charlotte Track, we decided that a couple of days exploring the northernmost reaches of the South Island would be fun, before we headed onto the ferry and across to the North Island.

Unfortunately, the weather knew better, and whilst we headed up towards Farewell Spit, the only spitting we could see was from some particularly ferocious rainclouds.

Undeterred, we holed up in Nelson for a few days, where V found what may well be the world's biggest rucksack (even bigger than hers! - see picture), and watched the kiwifruit vines enjoying the rain. We also found possibly the best cafe in the South Island where V wouldn't leave until we had purchased the recipes for the yummy food it provided (The Wholemeal Cafe in downtown Takaka, Golden Bay) - Rob says that the best Chocolate Cake comes from le cafe in Picton though - so we are agreeing to disagree!

Kiwi fruit vines (Motueka, NZ 15 Sept 07)
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A break in the clouds came just in time for our planned journey into Abel Tasman - quite fortuitous that the weather forecast was right for a change. An early start on a minibus lead us to the south of the park, where we boarded a speedboat to take us up to the northern reaches. Only problem was, the speedboat was still on its trailer on the land...fortunately the guides explained that due to the huge tidal range we were to be towed by tractor to the sea. A great kiwi solution to any problem...

Our Kayaks waiting for us on the beach in Abel Tasman (Abel Tasman National Park, NZ 16 Sept 07)
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Once on the water, a speedy trip along the coast of the park was quite stunning, and us and our kayaks were dropped off at the beautiful Tonga Marine Reserve. After having unloaded ourselves and the kayaks, we set off to an island about 1/2 mile offshore to spot some seals and were lucky enough also to get a rare sighting of blue penguins too. As Rob and I struggled to keep in time paddling our double kayak, we journeyed onto Bark Bay where we (thankfully!) set ashore and left the kayaks before having a well earned lunch. We wished at this point that we weren't wearing shorts as the sandflies decided to feast on our legs for their dinner!!

View from V's commanding position in the front of the kayak..but Rob was steering! (Abel Tasman National Park, NZ 16 Sept 07)
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The afternoon was spent hiking from Bark bay to Torrent bay, a lovely walk through quite old rainforest. The track was much busier than the Queen Charlotte Track, but still we had some of it to ourselves. Around every corner it seemed there was a new view of the ocean and pristine beaches, which made climbing the hills worthwhile!

We met up with the water taxi speedboat at Torrent bay again to be whisked home, and back onto the trailer to be pulled up the beach by the tractor once again. As we were coming home on the bus the heavens opened, so we couldn't have really timed the trip much better! Thanks to www.kiwikayaks.co.nz for a great day.

Local Seals were quite nice (Abel Tasman National Park, NZ 16 Sept 07)
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We returned back to the fab Tombstone Backpackers and caught the early morning ferry to Wellington and the North Island.

We've had a wonderful couple of months on the South Island and would love to return one day - fingers crossed!

V&R