Our packs were packed and lunches prepared. We met the bus at 8 AM for our trip to Kaiteriteri and our trip into Abel Tasman National Park. Abel Tasman’s track requires 4 days to hike, but we were able to do just a section of it by taking a tour with Sea Shuttles that provides a water taxi service. The bus transported us to Kaiteriteri which is a beautiful beach 13km from Motueka. The beach has golden sand and crystal clear blue water, which is typical of the rest of the beaches on the coastal track of Abel Tasman. I imagine it would be wonderful to snorkel there.

We booked for the Discoverer Day, which allowed us to cruise the entire length of the Park before being dropped off for our hike. On the way we viewed the famous Split Apple Rock and then went to an island
where there were many fur seals.

As we continued up the coastline, we were joined by a huge group of bottlenose dolphins that swam along with us and seemed to be having a wonderful time. They are among the larger and more familiar of the dolphins, made especially famous by Flipper.

Then we were dropped off at Bark Bay for the best walk in the park, the 2.5 - 3 hour hike to Torrent Bay. The hike took us through dense rainforest along the edge of high cliffs, and at one point we crossed a high swinging bridge at Falls River. If we had known we’d do this bridge today, we would have saved our money on the other bridge yesterday. At least yesterday’s bridge helped build my confidence for today’s experience.

We managed to arrive at Torrent Bay in time to meet our pick up water taxi, so all’s well. We had a day with gorgeous scenery, good exercise, lots of wildlife and plenty of sunshine.