Golden Bay and Abel Tasman

From Kaikoura I took a bus to the Golden Bay area. I wanted to be as remote as possible so I took a bus to a place called Collingwood. From there someone came to pick me up to bring me to a hostel called the Innlet. This area had been flooded the previous week (remember all the rain I wrote about? It all came down also here) and it was just since a few days, that the roads were usable again.The hostel was really in the middle of nowhere. Great, exactly what I wanted: Flower beds in the backyard, a nice lawn to lay on and surrounded by forest. a couple of hundred meters to the beach and a little stream running in the backyard.



Backyard of the Innlet hostel: Nice lawn, great forest near by.

 

View from the seat of the outhouse: a fully ecological sawdust WC !

In this hostel I met Claudia. She had a car and took me to the far north, the Farewell Spit. This is an amazing part of land, if it is not hiding in the haze...

Farewell Spit: This piece of land is very narrow, but 27 km long...

27km is a bit too long for a hike, especially if the feet are not too happy about long walks. So we turned the other way and walked along the coast. Have a look how different views you can get in a single day walking slowly...

The typical green grass and - of course - sheep !

Which way does the wind blow??

This place was less accessible than it seems. Great place for a small rest !

The coast

... and then from lush green to dry sand dunes...

... rocks and water



... more rocks and water...

...and a visitor on the beach... well, actually we are the visitors on his beach !

On the way out from the dunes to a parking. We were thinking about hitching a ride from some people when Claudia met two women she knew... New Zealand is small...

Natures' painting in the sand...

... these traces are mine...

The hostel was fully booked, after 2 days, I had to leave it. Claudia left too, so we spend another couple of days together. Sharing her car, fun and company we moved on to the Abel Tasman area.

Low tide: this is fully covered in water at high tide...

...somebody left traces....

One of the many (for us) nameless places on the way...

The great Abel Tasman National Park. Green water, as announced by every postcard.

The sun at its best: dressed up with a halo !

The split apple

We went along the Abel Tasman coast with a water taxi. We were lucky passing by a seal that was in the process of having his lunch...

The best ice cream in the world: home made berry ice !