Nelson

We got up early, cooked breakfast and jumped on our kiwi bus which turned out to be a mini bus. The driver (Dylan) was a head case but so funny and got us to Nelson in his record time. This meant we got first dibs on beds J That afternoon we climbed a steep hill which leads you to "The Centre of New Zealand", we decided to try and run up it. We soon came to realise our fitness had disappeared into thin air. Ross Matthews was not a happy with himself L Brad and the other Ross didn't care lol. We eventually got to the top and got fantastic views looking over Nelson and the ocean at sunset. We soon walked back down and started socialising with the other bus that had turned up while we were on our walk. A member of staff at the hostel was leaving and had organised a leaving do, so we just tagged along with her. She was from the area so knew all the good places to go and we ended up having a good night.

The following morning we got up weary eyed as we had to head into the most famous National Park in New Zealand, Abel Tasman. After an hour of windy roads we arrived at the National Park. The next two days we would be spending in Abel Tasman. The first day we kayaked for 4/5 hours down the coast of Abel Tasman taking in the great views from the ocean, we even bumped into a few seals along the way. We stopped on a secluded beach for lunch, the sun came out and it was laaaavely. We soon headed further north to our stop over point. We arrived at sunset and were gifted with an amazing sunset over the sea. Ross Smith took an amazing panoramic photo that we'll put up for everyone to see. We soon realised that the cabin on the beach we were staying in had no power at all, and the only way we were keeping warm was through a log fire and our sleeping bags. Minimalistic living at its best, we loved how peaceful and away from everything it was. We made another log fire on the beach and sat under the stars chatting about anything and everything, great day. We soon hit the hay thinking it was around 11pm, we checked our watches while getting into bed and it was 9.10pm. Earliest night for a long time, but we were going to need the sleep for tomorrows long trek back.

The following morning we got up at a stupid o'clock, cooked up some more bacon sandwiches and started our walk back out of the National Park. This time we would be taking in the views from land, and they were equally as good. This specific walk takes the average walker 7-9 hours, the route is up and down hills for around 22km. Our group did it in 5hrs and 45mins, the staff at the pickup point were very surprised to see us. Those trips to the Lake District have finally meant something lol. We then had to wait 3hrs for the other groups to arrive, as soon as they did we got taken back to Nelson so we could have a nice shower. That evening we watched a movie and went to bed as we were shattered.