We have made it to the South Island! We spent an afternoon in Wellington, and whilst on the way during a lunch stop we bumped into one of the guys that we met in Auckland who is on the kiwi experience bus which was pretty cool! We didn't have long in Wellington. When we first arrived and as we had got there early, the bus drove us to the top of Mount Victoria which gave a stunning view over the whole city. After sorting out our rooms at the hostel we wandered up Cuba street which has loads of cool little shops and cafés in, and then back along the waterfront. The city is known as the Windy City and that was certainly true, and a bit unwelcome after all the wind we'd had on the Tongariro crossing! That evening was the first chance we'd had to go out since Auckland so we went to a couple of bars and was cool to get to know everyone a bit more.

We had to leave to get the ferry to South Island at 6:40am so everyone a bit tired. The crossing took about 4 hours so plenty of nap opportunity. Spent the rest of the day on the bus, arriving in Abel Tasman at 5:30pm so quite a long travel day. The accommodation was awesome though we had proper single beds and feather duvets, amaze- plus the showers had a sea view!

Yesterday was a non travel day and it was definitely needed. In the morning we did a 12km walk over to Anchorage and then at 1pm we went on a catamaran sailing trip which was perfection. The landscape in Abel Tasman is really beautiful, golden sand beaches and rainforest around every corner. The boat trip lasted around 3 1/2 hours and we went around all the islands and spotted some penguins and seals! The captain of our boat had a friend with him who happened to be a musician so he was playing some really chilled out tunes while we sailed too. Paradise.