Abel Tasman National Park

1st June 2014

It was an early start this morning, particularly hard as it was both below zero (both inside and outside the van) and pitch black

Swapping cosy sleeping bags for icy socks and hugging cups of tea we shiverred in the car park waiting for our lift to the pretty little seaside village of Kaiterteri, the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park.  

Split Rock, Abel Tasman 

With the day getting warmer, seeing us shedding our many layers, We explored much of the coastline by boat, which took us up as far as Golden Bay and we admired the rugged and beautiful coastline from the boat before hopping on to shore at Medlands Bay. 

We took a picnic and walked 10km of the Abel Tasman Coastal track to Anchorage bay.  To have thought the other morning we were wearing in thermals and had crampons in our rucksack and today we were strolling along golden sands and paddling in the sea.  

It was a brilliant day out and felt like we were walking in Paradise.   It's definitely a place I'd  love to come back to in warmer weather to camp and kayak along the coast. 

A bus ride got us back to the campsite after dark and we wandered the streets looking for fish and chips.   We saw a guy squeezing into a Ninja Turtle costume getting out of a car - We joked that there was a Pizza place further up the street, but didn't catch his response.  Walking back along the pavement having failed to find the fish and chip shop, we found said turtle stood outside attracting patrons to the aforementioned Pizza shop.  I then thought my joke wouldn't have been appreciated as he would clearly be on minimum wage and it was freezing cold - even at 6pm.  Not many tourists out though - it's the first day of Winter - so at least he was spared from a torrent of crap jokes. 

We found the fish and chip shop and walked/ran back to the campsite before they got cold.