After the slightly strange but lovely Christmas and Boxing days in the sun we set off on our 3 day hike along the coast of the Abel Tasman National Park. It all started very well with lovely beaches, turquoise seas and rainforest. As we arrived at our first campsite it started raining slightly so we got our tent up quickly and took cover. Then came an absolutely horrendous thunder storm that lasted all evening, night and the next morning. The tent held up pretty well and we didn't get too wet. There's very little drinking water on the track so in the morning we started boiling up our water supply for the day when our gas ran out (only half way through the whole walk). Bad times. We had our luke warm lunch and set out for the days trek with very little water. Made it to a safe water supply in the afternoon and filled up every container possible which made the next section of the walk interesting as one container had no lid and the gradient suddenly became pretty challenging. Reached our second campsite on a beautiful beach and had some chocolate bars for dinner while the pasta and sauce stayed uncooked in our bags. Got up really early the next morning as we had to make some tidal crossings. I'd set an alarm on my phone but of course in the tradition of this trip the battery died and I was lucky to wake up and notice the time. Stepped out of the tent and a tree collapsed a couple of metres in front of me. The Ranger came running over and handily pointed out that it was lucky our tent wasn't underneath that. Packed up, got out of there before another one came down and headed up the beach as the sun rose. We made our tidal crossings in time and caught our water taxi at the end, what a great few days!

It's our final night in Nelson tonight before we leave for the North Island tomorrow where we have a campervan for two weeks. Time to say goodbye to my parents who've been fantastic and generous hosts. They really have got the better end of the deal in their house swap! Sunny, beautiful Nelson vs. cold, dark Chorleywood. No contest.