Hello! We now find ourselves a little further North in Marahau which is the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park, the smallest of all National Parks in New Zealand. Strangely enough we're told it is also the busiest, very popular with Kiwi's apparently. Marahau is tiny, has one shop and not a lot else. We are staying on a campsite right besides the beach. All we can hear is the waves lapping the beach and the birds singing. They sing all night here which we find a little odd! We have been so lucky with the weather here, we drove up from Kaikoura and stopped for lunch in Nelson on the way. Had a lovely seafood chowder and then carried on to Motueka which is about 20mins from Abel Tasman. We had planned to stay here but the friendly Tourist Info lady told us we'd be better off up here, closer to the park. We booked on to a water taxi (which I was dreading, more water!!) at 9am which was to drop us off at Barks Bay about half way up the coast of the park. The plan being we would walk back to Marahau from there, a six hour walk. The boat ride was fabulous! Our driver was another 'extreme' Kiwi man called Gav, the boat was a speedboat and he promised us a smooth ride. Gav told us a little of the history of the park when he stopped the boat to say "right, this is where we make to Pomms jump out as punishment for years and years of oppression". Luckily he was joking. We were allowed to stay aboard until Barks Bay where we got (or fell out of in my case) off the boat. The walk back was lovely, we could see the coast on our left for almost the whole way. There were loads of little beaches on the way hidden from everyone else. Barely anywhere in the park is accessible by road, only helicopter, boat or kayak so it's quite cool to be that far removed from everyone. We made it back to camp by about 4pm, straight into a little cafe for a beer. Happy days. We've decided to have a sleepy relaxing weekend in Nelson before we go and catch the ferry next week. The weather is still beautiful so fingers crossed it'll stay that way as we sit with a bottle of chardonnay this afternoon. Hoping to see the OC tonight, a few weeks behind the UK but better than nothing! Oh the excitement!! Missing you all lots. Lots of love Hayley & Holly xxxxx