Luckily we did only need one night in the shack at Murchison and were able to get to Abel Tasman National Park area the next day. We're staying at the Barn which is right on the edge of the park, the tentsare doing well and the weather has been really nice.

It's really pretty around here and the beach is nice although it is a little too cold to actually sun bathe or go in the sea. There are quite a few walks that you can do in the park all along the coastal track which can take anything from a few hours to 5 days, you can get a water taxi boat to any point you like then walk back, we booked our selves ontoa boat at 8am that take us to Tonga Island and we'd need to walk 28km/ 18 miles back. In hindsight we didn't really think about how far that is for novice walkers, the track wasn't hard there were a few steep climbs but generally nothing too major, that said with the last 5km to go I had really had enough my feet were starting to swell up and I could feel every stone under them, I was wearing my good walking sandals but it just wasn't good enough. People have a saying that their feet were hanging off after a long walk well I was acutely aware that my feet weren't hanging off and were still very much attached and giving me hell I'd have preferred they were disconnected from my body in all honesty! It was a good walk and the National Park is beautiful but we didn't really have enough time to sit around and take it in, we didn't swim either as it was a bit too cold and also walking all that way in wet clothes would have been even worse, imagine the chaffing!! It was enjoyable but I think if we were to do it again I wouldn't want to go as far as we did.

The next morning I could barely walk and spent much of the day hobbling about, we enjoyed quite a few ice lollies and had a soak in the outdoor baths lookingup at the sky.

We've spent 4 days here and really enjoyed it, met quite a few people and had a good laugh and fair bit of exercise which I'm sure our bodies are actually thankful for!!