Abel Tasman

July 25, 2012 – Kaiteriteri

Back into the camper we went.  Our next leg took us through the Nelson Lakes and then off to the Abel Tasman region.  This is the north tip of the South Island and this area should be a stop on everyone’s itinerary for at least a couple days.

When we arrived in Kaiteriteri we were excited to see the gold beaches.  The town was very quiet, but there are many signs that the location gets quiet busy during the summer months.  The 200+ camper sites were our first clue.  Fortunately, we were one of only four camper vans staying the night so we had our pick of the best spots with a view of the beach.  We stayed at the Top 10 holiday park in Kaiteriteri.  The view was great, but the showers were stupid.  They cost $0.50 NZD for 6 minutes (which I don’t mind paying), but there was no water pressure and if you add more coins the time doesn’t accumulate.  After the first 6 minutes I had to leave the shower stall and march buck ass naked to the coin machine (conveniently located a good 15 feet from the showers) to feed the meter.  I’m not sure who can properly get clean in 6 minutes, but I certainly can’t.   Most showers at these holiday parks are either free, or the coin machines are in the shower stall … a much better solution.  /end rant

We purchased some lamb shoulders for $7.40 NZD (about $6 CAD for both) and fired up our BBQ for dinner:

Kayaking is on our NZD bucket list, but the outfitters here in Kaiteriteri only run kayaking tours which include a boat ride (aka Sea Taxi) to some of the beaches and bays to the North.  This bumps the price up pretty high for a half day of kayaking so we decided to try it out somewhere else.

July 26, 2012 – Takaka / Rawhiti Cave

Driving through Abel Tasman is not for those who get car sick easily.  It is a windy road with tight corners and steep cliffs below.   The 45 minute trip takes some focus, but is worth the effort.

We stopped in at the information center at Takaka can received some very useful information from a lady named Jessica.  There are several good day walks and short walks in the Golden bay area.  Jessica also helped us book a sea kayaking trip with Golden Bay Kayaks for the next morning.

We had the afternoon to explore, so we decided to try out the Rawhiti Cave hike.  It is a steep, muddy and relentless climb for about one hour to reach the top.  Bring water and some snacks because you’ll want to spend some time up at the caves:

This evening we stayed the night at the Top 10 Holiday park in Pohara.  It’s a well equipped park, and we had a great view from our site.  Also some BBQ for the evening:

I tried out my luck with some time lapse photos through the night:

July 27, 2012 – Pohara / Golden Bay sea kayaking / Te Waikoropupu / Grove Springs

This was a full day.  The alarm was set early and we drove about 15min east to meet our sea kayaking guide Paul.  The owners of Golden Bay Kayaks were over in Canada for a holiday, go figure. 

Paul got us setup with a two person sea kayak and taught us how to use the skirts to keep us dry.  I recommend the guided tour as we explored many places which we normally wouldn’t have ventured into on our own.  Laura and I got to see several bird colonies, some seals, a mussel farm and explanations of them all from Paul.  Here are some pictures of the trip:

After kayaking we fueled up with some lunch and stopped in at two more day hikes.  The first hike was at a place called Te Waikoropupu.  There is a natural water springs here which is filtered by miles of limestone rock underground.  Apparently, this is the clearest water in the world.  The springs were interesting, and there are two offshore springs that (I predict) would be worth seeing with some SCUBA gear:

Our second stop was at the Grove in Takaka which are limestone formations that were created by years of water action eroding away at the rock.  Unfortunately, the camera died part way through this trip, and I didn’t have a spare battery:

July 28, 2012 – Farewell Spit / Wharariki Beach / Drive to Nelson

On our last day near Abel Tasman we drove as far north as we could to see the Wharaariki Beach and the Farewell Spit.  Our first surprise when we reached the car park was a curious peacock that wouldn’t leave us alone.  It was the first we’ve seen on this trip and he took a liking to Laura:

There is a short 20min walk from the car park and you’ll rise over some sand dunes to find a HUGE beach.  There was no one else around, so we had miles of sand to ourselves.  We were pleasantly surprised to find another small pool of sea pups:

 A seal pup chilling out up stream

Our next stop was Nelson.  The drive was pretty easy (except through the same Abel Tasman pass), and funny enough we drove through a Richmond to get to Nelson and the whole area reminded us of BC.

Thanks for reading we will have another post up soon!

-Neal & Laura