On Saturday, after leaving Raetihi Lodge, we met up with Judy and Steve in Nelson. After all those miles of gravel roads, our first stop was the car wash as the car was absolutely filthy. We provisioned for the next few days and set off for Abel Tasman National Park on the north coast. We drove to Motueka, voted the best place to live in NZ - most sunshine, apple orchards, vineyards and a brilliant coast on the edge of Abel Tasman and Kahurangi National Parks. As access into Abel Tasman is quite limited by road, we opted to do a package boat cruise and hiking trip. We could have added kayaking, but chose to do a longer hike. It was a great choice, as the boat took us from Kaiteriteri at the south end of the park, all along the scenic shoreline to the north end of the park. There were many stops along the way to drop-off and pick-up hikers who were doing various portions of the Great Walk Track. Then the boat returned down the coast and dropped us off in Midland, where we started our 10km hike back to Anchorage. After a lovely hike along the coast, the boat picked us up for the return trip to Kaiteriteri. We felt like we had done Abel Tasman by the end of the day and would not have gained much more by kayaking. The weather was spectacular and it was a thoroughly great day!

Next day, we drove further NW to Cape Farewell, the most northerly part of the South Island. A 38 mile long sand spit extends NE from the Cape, but it is a bird sanctuary and only accessible via a guided tour. The owner of Farewell Gardens campground told us to head out right away to Wharariki Bay as low tide was in 45 minutes. I had heard elsewhere that this beach was not to be missed and they were absolutely right. What a fantastic place! A 1 km hike through pastureland took us to the beach which then stretched on for 2-3 km, with islands, caves and the most adorable baby fur seals playing in the pools. Next day, we hiked about 12 km from Cape Farewell along the headlands to Pillar Point Lighthouse, over the Old Man Mountain Range, down to Fossil Point and across the base of Farewell Spit. It was nice to have two cars to site at either end of the track. It was a wonderfully varied hike with fantastic views up and down the coast - walking along the cliff edge overlooking the Tasman Sea with the breakers pounding in below us, through rolling hills with pastures filled with sheep and cows, up onto the pebble conglomerate cliffs of the Old Man Range then down to the beach and across the end of Farewell Spit. The weather was lovely and sunny, but the wind was very strong and really buffeted us. We were glad we had done the beach walk at Wharariki the day before, as we were sand-blasted at Fossil Point Beach and Farewell Spit looked like a Sahara Desert sandstorm! The following day, we left Cape Farewell and drove back along Golden Bay to Pohara Beach at the north end of Abel Tasman Park. We had read about a couple of interesting hikes in the area and wanted to do them before heading further south. We also wanted to kayak.

We have done a lot of hiking since we got to the South Island and I'm now quite pleased with how well my knee is working. The trail today to the phytokarst cave was very steep and full of big steps and slippery rocks - not something I could have done a few months ago. After hiking for a couple of hours, we returned to camp and set off kayaking up the coast. We have filled our days with activities. No moss grows under our feet!