We arrived in the town of Marahau which sits on the shores of Sandy Bay in the Abel Tasman National Park (named after the first European to sight New Zealand). We wanted to kayak along the coast and visit some of the islands and golden beaches which run through the park but the price for a half day was the same as a full day so we decided to book ourselves into a kayak for the following day and spend today walking along the coastal path. Having got as far as Tin...

We awoke early in French Pass and headed off with the aim of reaching Nelson in time to speak to Steve's Dad who has reached the ripe old age of 60. After a spot of breakfast in a park in the town we had a wander round and had the (mis)fortune to stumble upon a car boot sale, while Steve browsed for cds he hoped would provide a respite from the kiwi radio Alison went around replenishing her wardrobe making three purchases all for the princely sum of 8.5 dollars, ...

Having explored Farewell Spit we decided to drive back along the road that runs alongside Golden Bay with the aim of reaching Abel Tasman national park that night. Unfortunately we were thwarted by a lack of petrol, we found plenty of petrol stations but unfortunately they'd all shut up shop for the day (it was only just gone 5 for heaven's sake) and we were loathe to risk getting stuck on the side of a mountain between us and abel tasman. A little frustrated we ...

Farewell Spit is a thin strip of land, mainly sand dunes that stretches out from the north western corner of the South Island. We wandered across some farm land before reaching the beach which was again completely isolated so that we had the whole, windy but large beach to ourselves. We wandered along the beach until we reached the sand dunes which are surrounded by sitting water. It was quite tricky to find our way through to the other side as we would clamber u...

We had grabbed a great spot at French Pass overlooking the bay, especially as this was Labour weekend so the campsite became really busy, we had the most amazing view over the still waters of the bay under a brilliant moon on our first night. We spent the following morning drinking cups of tea, sitting at our picnic table while reading our books like a couple of OAPs, later on in the afternoon we weny for a wander to watch the waters swirling around the Pass, a p...