We set out on our long drive. For the second time in twice as many days, I got inspired to have wine for breakfast, so we stopped at another vineyard, Pegasus Bay, en route. This time I went with the reds that the region is known for and picked up a bottle of pinot noir. Being on vacation was really starting to agree with me!

After the winery, we decided a nice long soak was in order, so we headed for Hanmer Springs. The man made pools have natural hot springs piped in, and the place was beautiful and relaxing. We spent a couple of hours turning to prunes before we got back on the road. Brian drove the first couple of hours then exhausted from all the twisting roads we traded off. The roads immediately widened and straightened and I was having a nice drive, convinced that Google must have made a mistake when it said that the next 200km were going to take almost 4 hours. Then we got to the "hill"!

Had I understood what the drive to Golden Bay was like, I'd probably have not planned to go…I'm so glad I didn't know what the drive was like! Of course I'm dreading leaving, one way in means one way out, but what a wonderful, magical place this is!!

We got to our Eco House Truck, the second interesting stay that I had mentioned earlier, and were awed by the beautiful scenery and seclusion. We spent the next morning kayaking around the various bays and west side of Abel Tasman National Park. We got to see stingrays, and herons, and a little blue penguin fishing for his supper.

We lunched in Takaka, a quaint traveler's town filled with cute shops, restaurants, and the requisite abundance of hippies that towns like this require. Everything seemed to close up by 2:30 (and we'd thought the 5pm end of day was early), so we hiked, pardon me, tramped out to Wannui Falls which is part of the National Park as well. Aside from a little sun stroke I suffered- it's not just an old wives tale, the sun here is significantly stronger, and the 30spf sunscreen I was wearing was just not going to cut it- it was a wonderful day. More importantly, we got to sleep in the same place for a second night in a row! Happy house truck!!