The Alex & The Eleanor + 1

Thrusday, January 3, 2008
Nelson – Abel Tasman National Park
Sunny and hot

There is a weird quirk of nature that the northwest corner of the South Island gets lots and lots of sunny and is generally far more temperate then it should be. So if it seems that as we have come south its gotten hotter and nicer, you are right astute reader you. The northwest corner of the South Island also holds Abel Tasman National Park, the smallest one in NZ, but if the Queen Charlotte Track was a lake in New Hampshire, Abel Tasman is like Florida, at least during the summer. It, like many is not most or all National Parks here, have very well maintained walking trails with campsites and huts and all sorts of niceities that explain to me why Kiwis are so found of their walks.

It’s about an hour drive to the base of the park, and we head out nice and early with plans to take a water taxi from Kaiteriteri to Bark Bay, which is about the middle of the park I think, and then hike to the next bay and water taxi stop, Torrent Bay, spend some time on the beach and get picked up. We get out at Bark Bay and start walking (though I must point out there are flush toilets at some campsites, that’s my idea of camping) The trail is busy, for NZ, and its easy to see why, it’s a lovely hot day, but there is enough shade and breeze that’s its not too hot, and the views are quite lovely. Not as nice as Queen Charlotte, but then the hike is much easier. Although its suppose to take us 2.5 hours to get to Torrent, it takes us less then 2 (wohoooo! We are above average walkers!) and its so lovely and such a nice walk we decide to call the taxi place and get a later pick up at the next bay down – Anchorage. This was much shorter walk – partly because it was low tide and we could walk across a bay that completely drains. Very cool, and 30 min instead of 90.

Anchorage is a much nicer beach and we bake and read for a nice long afternoon. The water is very cold though, which is nice because I can run in and cool off, and get out and not be cold, just be refreshed. The boat picks up right on time and we head back to Kaiteriteri and then to Nelson. For dinner we try to stir up some of the fish that Nelson is famous for and end up at a cute little place on the wharf, and I get the Blue Nose special. It’s a white fish, but very meaty though with the (tasty) buerre blanc sauce it gets a little heavy. Goes perfectly with some Sauvignon Blanc though. Quite a wonderful day.