Next stop on our adventure north was Nelson, This was apparently a city but was more like a town in 'back home' terms. After a coffee to sit and watch the world go by we had wander round the 'city'. We then decided that a walk to the 'centre of NZ' was too good to miss so we set off, unfortunately we got our directions abit off so it turned into a climb to the centre of NZ rather than a stroll! So we arrived nice and sweaty to the centre of NZ and then headed to a bead factory Shelly had decided she had to have a go at. After what seemed like a lifetime to Richard we emerged from the bead factory, Shelly might pleased with herself covered in beads! From Nelson we headed North to Abel Tasman, This is one of the largest national parks in NZ and looks like a tropical island with pure white beaches on the coast. To explore the park we set out on the water taxi, they took us up the coast for a couple of hours, showing us the sights of split apple rock and seal island before dropping us of in the north of the park so we could make our own way back to be picked up that afternoon. It really was stunning as we walked down the coast past the beaches and lagoons, we had our picnic and managed to get in abit of sun bathing before the boat came and picked us up.

From the national park we headed on to Takaka,we parked up for the night in not one of our most scenic camping spots AKA a town carpark. Unfortunately despite quite a few signs we were unaware of the town market held on a saturday morning, (It was Friday night) So we awoke to find ourselves sandwitched between the fruit and veg stall and the lemonade stand! After a quick getaway we headed up to Collingwood before making our way right up to Farewell spit at the tip of the South island. This was where we straddled our Horses and went for a 3 hour trek over Farewell spit, the views were magnificent and although Shelly missed the first set of instructions which led to her clinging on for dear life with only one foot in the stirrup as the horse began to canter, we soon both got the hang of it and were thinking we were John Wayne after a good few hours. Well worth it even though we were both walking like cowboys the next day....and the day after that!