From Blenheim we headed towards Abel Tasman National Park which is in the North West corner of the South Island. We stayed (parked the van!) in the "wee town" of Kaiteriteri one of the most popular resort beaches in the area - not convinced we were here at the right time of year though!

The following day we caught a water taxi to Tonga, not the country just one of the many beaches on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. On the way we saw Apple rock - a massive circular rock that seemed to have been axed in half! We also visited Tonga Island where there is a population of New Zealand fur seals. This included a nursery - a sheltered cover where all the young pups were seen fooling around whilst one of the older seals looked on! From Tonga beach there it was a stunning 4 hour walk back to Torrent Bay where we picked up the water taxi back. We then drove through the Kahurangi National Park over a mountain range to Tarkaka where we rewarded our tramping efforts with blue cod and chips before parking up on a random lane!

Farewell spit was the target for the next day so we worked our way up the coast investigating various beaches and small towns on the way including the hand made chocolate shop in Collingwood! We also visited Pupu springs, the largest fresh water springs in NZ. Amazing to see such a large river starting from nothing. Farewell spit was ultimately a disappointment as the tide was very low and the whole thing looked like a muddy mess. We worked our way back down to Tarkaka and headed back over the mountains. We though we would "pop in" to Harwood's hole, largest cave in NZ, however this turned into a bit of a mission! It turned out the road to the car park for the walk was actually a 13km dirt road that was very windy and bumpy! It was getting later and later but I though we probably just about had time to walk to the hole and back. Alex jokingly said should we take head torches. We did and it turned out not to be so much of a joke! The walk there was through a dense forest which the failing light struggle to penetrate but after around 45 minutes we reached the cave which opened out to the sky and was a pretty impressive sight. The walk back under head torch was a little steady but we made it. What with it now being dark we decided to stay the night where we were which was great apart from the water in our bottles freezing overnight inside the van - brrrrrrr!