Tuesday 18th January Abel Tasman - Hanmer Springs It was pouring with rain when we woke this morning but we set off early passing through 2 more national parks on route to Hanmer Springs.We stopped for walks at several places along the way but with low cloud and rain, there was little to see and little enthusiasm to get off the bus. We passed through the Kahurangi and Nelson national parks which boast fabulous scenery but we saw little of it through the rai...

Monday 17th January - Anchorage Bay to MarahauBeach After a very uncomfortable night, Ant and I were up at 7:00 am making sandwiches for our hike today.We are booked on the 9:00 aqua taxi to AnchorageBay from where we will hike the coastal path back to MarahauBeach - a distance of 11 kilometres (the full track is 54.4 km with huts and campsites along the way and can take 3-5 days to hike) At 8.30 the bus picked us up for the short drive to the aqua taxi ter...

Sunday 16th January Wellington/Picton - Abel Tasman We have a very early start today as we are booked on to the 8:00 am ferry to Picton where we will be picked up by another bus and another guide. Check in at the ferry terminal is 7:00 am so we met Lucky at 6:40 am to load up the bus - she has learnt about my caffeine addiction over the last 5 days and she had bought me a cappuccino bless her!!!!!At the ferry terminal we said goodbye to all the friends we h...