The early morning ferry across to Picton was a dull affair as the rain was even more pesistent than the previous two days. We were hoping for glorius views of the sounds as we came into Picton but all we got were shadowy outlines of the hills through the mist and rain. We decided to head straight to Abel Tasman, giving the Marlborough Sounds a miss as it didnt sound too appealing in the rain, besides we could do it on the way back up.

En route to Abel Tasman we made a stop at Havelock 'The green lipped mussel captiol of the world' for some lunch. Despite Havelock being yet another one street, one storey town, the mussel pot restaurant was fantastic and we feasted on huge pots of massive mussels.

Arriving near the entrance of Abel Tasman National Park a few hours later we set up camp at Old MacDonalds Farm which was home to llamas and alpaca, all very bizarre. We organised our water taxi's into the park for the following day. Running low on supplies and not a supermarket in sight we were thankful to strumble across an open air cafe, Fat Tuis, serving up excellent Fush and Chups.

Our lift arrived early doors in the form of a tractor and trailer which took us to our water taxi. Our small boat rocketed through the crystal waters alongside Abel Tasman National Park passing many golden deserted beaches before dropping us off for the start of our hike. We were slightly disappointed with the views from much of the path which meandered through dense forest. Occasionaly however, a viewpoint gave us fantastic vistas of gorgeous beaches and turquoise waters. We picniced at one of the beaches and then pushed on eager not to miss our taxi at four further down. Somehow we arrived at our finish point well ahead of schedule which gave us time to enjoy the beautiful beach, swimming and snorkeling.

Another bargain meal at Fat Tui's and a bottle of wine at the bar overlooking the start of the coastal track. We wandered back to Old MacDonalds Farm by the glow of the Milkyway wheeling over our heads.