To state the obvious, Abel Tasman is beautiful; the place, not the Dutch explorer that first landed here - he was okay looking for a guy in a ruff necked collar I guess but he wasn't anything special. Good old Abel first discovered Tasmania before sailing over to the Northern tip of NZ's South Island, Golden Bay. It was a brief visit however as he was quickly sent on his way again by some unfriendly Maori tribes and went onto Fiji.

To look at on a map Abel Tasman (I'll be referring to the place from now on) doesn't sound the most inviting place; some literary rascal saw fit to attach unsavoury names to the bays there - mosquito bay and sandfly bay, to name a few. By in actuality, the place is utterly exotic, tropical and to my eyes pest free.

Walking along the well trodden path that hugs the coast line is pleasantly cool without being cold thanks to the huge ferns that stand sentinel on either side of the path, casting a friendly shadow for you to find refuge in. Various squarks and chirps can be heard from a whole host of birds and insects, two of which were the white-faced heron and the flightless weka. The wekas were pretty bolshy and were quite happy to play chicken with you on the walkway.

After an hour and a half of walking we arrived at Apple Tree Bay (a far better name). The sea around it was like a mill pond with inviting water in various shades of blue and green - I was angry that I hadn't purchased a snorkel sooner.

We parked up in the slither of white sand as the tide was luckily right up and enjoyed a Chinese pear (so delicious, a kind of cross between and apple and a pear). With only a hand full of people in sight and Adele Island looking mythical a short 300 meters from the shore we really did think that we were in paradise. Heartwarmingly, Adele Island is now a haven for bird life and ornithologist have managed to eradicate all pests such as stoats and rats in the hope that the endangered kiwi with thrive there.

Moronically, we had assumed that there would be cafes along the walk that we could get some refreshment from; we were told (quiet emphatically) by an elderly couple that there were no such thing in national parks. With no water and only a pear rind to suck on each, we headed back earlier than we would have liked in order to save ourselves from dehydration and almost certainly death.

Making it back (barely) we treated out dry mouths to an apple and rubarb crumble cake which hit the spot like a trooper. Following that we headed back to Nelson for a free campsite again because we're scroungy like that.