Thursday March 15
We hated leaving Wellington after having such a nice visit on the North Island. But we have a plan and it’s time to move on. We took the morning train to the city with Diane and boarded a free bus provided by ferry company to take passengers to the Interislander Ferry Terminal. It is a big ship with comfortable inside seating and a 10th level observation deck. The trip takes 3 hours and the most beautiful part is when the ship enters into the Charlotte Sound. It was blowing hard on the upper deck but well worth it for the views.
We arrived in Picton around noon and quickly got our rental car from Omega Cars. We have been very pleased with this company in New Zealand. We headed west towards our destination of Kaiteriteri which is on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park. We stopped for lunch in Nelson but what we saw wasn’t that impressive.
Kaiteriteri is a sweet little town totally geared up for the visitors to the national park with small lodging facilities, lots of camping areas and a few restaurants. We stayed at Kaiteriteri B&B which was decent. The first floor of the home is just rooms and bathrooms and a common area with a frig and table. It’s quiet, close to the sea and short walk to the village. Bed was comfortable and the shower hot!
Abel Tasman National Park is a New Zealand national park located between Golden Bay and Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island. The park is renowned for golden beaches, estuaries and tidal lagoons, ancient podocarp forests and sculptured granite cliffs. Tramping or hiking is one of the main attractions of the region and its world-famous Abel Tasman Coast Track is one of the Department of Conservation’s Great Walks. Kayaking, hunting, camping and sightseeing are other popular activities.
We booked our day excursion into the park at the last minute on the 16th. I had spent so much time planning this trip but didn’t pre-book any activities. And once the trip started, I quit reading the NZ books and Tripadvisor forums. Everything is weather dependent so it’s just easier to book onsite. I did find a website with some good deals a few days out (bookme.nz.com).
We considered the kayak, cruise and hiking combo trips which could get quite expensive. With open seas and wind gusts up to 40mph we opted not to kayak. Bill says, “you gave our kayak away so why would we want to spend 3 hours kayaking into the wind?”
There are several companies that organize the cruise, hike, kayak combo trips and some even include lunch. But a simpler trip is to book with Sea Shuttles for just a cruise. You choose your drop off and pickup locations and times and hike between the two. Bring tennis shoes to hike, a picnic lunch and bathing suit (or togs as kiwis call them).
The sea shuttles start in Kaiteriteri and stop at various beaches along the way. You can only get to this park with a boat or by hiking. There are a couple of lodges and camping facilities. Some people were hiking from site to site and others were traveling with their “big” suitcases by boat.
Our trip dropped us off at Awaroa where we walked about 15 minutes to the off the grid Awaroa Lodge. We had a fabulous breakfast on the deck with a perfect “flat white” coffee.
Then we started our hike South to Tonga Quarry – just under two hours. Up the ridge mostly bush (woods) hiking in the shade and then downhill towards a wide golden beach. We chilled at this beach and then hiked another mile on the edge of the ridge till we got to Tonga Quarry beach. Had an hour to relax and swim while waiting for our ferry pickup.
Beautiful beaches, lush forests, great system for walking and cruising. Back to Kaiteriteri where the tide was out and the sand was rippled.
Ate dinner at Koi again because of good food and sunset views.
Saturday March 17
A travel day and a long one at that. Kaiteriteri to Fox Glacier on West Coast with stops took about 9 hours. By Kiwi standards that is too long of a driving day but there really wasn’t a good place for us to stop.
Also the weather was cloudy and less of a day to do things.
We left early, around 7am. Kiwis are not early risers and we had the small country roads to ourselves all morning.
The most memorable stop was half way at Punakaiki also called Pancake Rocks. This place is a unique geological formation by the sea. The limestone rocks are layered and during high tide the sea bursts through blowholes. There is a very scenic walkway to explore this wonderful site.
