I'm staying with a lovely couple Sarah, Jonathan and their 3 lively children, who are home schooled.
They are full of ideas and suggestions of what to do. So following their advice I drove for about an hour into Abel Tasman national park, most of it on an unmade road. Another new experience. I was lucky it wasn't very busy.
I parked the car and walked onto the beach to wait for the water taxi which was due in 15 minutes. The boat arrives on time and comes right onto the beach. He drops me at a place called Anchorage. About a 45 minute ride, with a few stops along the bay. And also a stop where the driver points out a rock which he thinks looks like a Ninja turtle. I couldn't see it myself, but took a photo anyway.
At Anchorage I have nearly 2 hours until I'm being collected for the trip back on the water taxi. Because it's a winter schedule there aren't so many boats running.
I go for a walk around the headland and back. It all seemed to be uphill.
The boat picks me up, a few more people aboard now. The driver takes us to an inlet which is only accessible at high tide where seal pups are swimming. They are happy to swim around the boat and pop their heads up to say hello. There's also 1 seal laying on his back sunbathing. The driver then took us to another bay where we could see a few stringrays swimming in the water.
I had dinner at the Penguin restaurant.