Abel Tasman National Park

Well, I'm officially on the South Island now and it's so beautiful I can barely breath sometimes. About 1/4 of New Zealand's population lives here (1 million people), so you can imagine how remote certain places can be, particuarly on the south coast which is where I am right now.

We stayed in Abel Tasman for 2 nights and enjoyed an amazingly sunny and HOT late-spring cloudless day there. I got sunburnt, of course, but oh well. Spent some of my full day on a sailing trip, then hiked a little and took a water taxi back (the only ways to travel through the national park are by foot or on the Tasman Sea).

This is Split Apple Rock.

Don't ask me about how the rock formation came about because I never got an answer.

Me squinting on the boat with Anchorage Bay behind us.

The boat, of course.



View from the early part of my hike.

View of the Tasman sea from one of the highest hike points.

This is weird---the tide from the sea goes out about 1/2 km so they actually drive the water taxis up onto tractors in the water (they have snorkels so they don't flood). The tractor takes the boat all the way along the sand, up a ramp and all the way to the carpark at the information center. That was a really strange ride, sitting in a motor boat while being driven by a tractor.

This is the view from our backpackers, Old McDonald's Farm. They have llamas, peacocks, bulls, dogs, cats, etc. This place was unreal. Apparently they have WWOOFING up the road, and I'll seriously consider working here. There is a community sculpture garden and some great art being made around the area.