On Monday we had to say bye to our Woofing family. It was a great first experience so we were sad to leave!
However we were going to begin the 4 day Abel Tasman walk and it was a beautiful day so was the perfect day to start it.
The first day we only had to walk 12km ish so it was pretty cruisy. It was however our first experience having to carry our big backpacks for that long with 4 days worth of supplies and camping equipment... So that took a little getting used to!
We found a really cool little bay to have our lunch at, and with no rush to be anywhere we had a little sunbathe. We then got to chill on the beach again when we arrived at our camp for the night.

The next day we had about 18kms to walk. It was a slightly grey day but it kinda added to the scenery! After stopping at a few nice spots along the way we arrived at our camp for that night. It was a much smaller one and turned out that we were the only ones staying there. It could have been awesome as we pretty much had our own private beach, however it was only minutes after we had put up the tent that the heavens opened (and didn't close again). So that was us in the tent for the night. Dinner was interesting too as we couldn't use the stove so had to make do with whatever random bits and bobs we could put together. It wasn't the most enjoyable night for me as it felt like we were either going to blow away or have the huge waves crash on our tent!

Unfortunately nothing had changed by the morning. We waited it out for a bit but eventually bit the bullet and put down the tent in the pouring rain. We were starting to think the odds were against us as I had pulled a muscle in my hip/leg too and because of that I also had a swollen foot from walking funny. Not only that, we had the most hilly part of the walk so far to contend with so I definitely looked like a hobbling drowned rat! Despite the rain though we had a very scenic walk that morning which we unfortunately couldn't capture as our GoPro had turned itself on and therefore died (I told you we were out of luck!)
We were supposed to have a 22km walk that day but after 2 hours of walking/hobbling we decided it wouldn't be very fun. Luckily, we were heading in the direction of the only cafe on the track so decided we'd take a breather and have a cuppa there... I've never enjoyed a tea so much!! Whilst there we decided the rest of the walk was not going to be enjoyable as you couldn't see a thing and everything we had with us was drenched. We decided to bail and borrowed the phone at the lodge to rearrange our water taxi for a day earlier. We were both a bit gutted but decided we had made the right decision when the rain only got heavier that evening. You win some you lose some I guess but despite all that it was a brilliant experience and we saw some amazing sights.
We spent the night at our friends where a hot shower and tasty meal was well appreciated, before driving to Picton today. Tomorrow we are heading to the North Island to see what it has to offer, after spending 15 months in the good ole South.