Abel Tasman and Nelson

We arrived just outside Abel Tasman National Park at low tide, just in time to see the sunset. The tidal range here is huge (up to ~15 feet), so a large amount of coast line becomes exposed. You can walk really far out on the exposed sand flats, which we took full advantage of during a coastal hike. Few of the birds here seem to be afraid of us. There’s some chicken-like birds called Wekas that were particularly curious.

Someone had been making lots of symbols and writing by arranging rocks in the sand flats, so you can only see the result at low tide. Priscilla finally caught the culprits in the act:

You can’t really drive into much of the park, so we chose a holiday park right on the boundary and decided to hike and kayak in. Kayaking was pretty cold in the shade, so we sought out the sun. We’d never used closed top kayak’s before (as opposed to the sit-on-top kind you often get). They are much more snug, you can steer with a rudder, and have a nice splash skirt thing. The skirt also doubles as a fashion accessory when you’re out of the kayak.

While kayaking, we saw a whole colony of loud seals on Adele Island and then stopped for lunch on an untouched beach. It was a bit chilly, but looked super tropical.

After Abel Tasman, we drove over to Nelson where we had to drop Kate off at the airport for her trip home 🙁 But before we did we found the center of New Zealand. Well, kinda… actually just the surveyor reference point in the middle district of New Zealand. Also waked around the small town to some gardens and a museum. It’s a cute little place.