Our last destination in South Island was the Abel Tasman National Park an area on the North West coast. Crossing our fingers for a bit better weather and kept driving.
Sea side Pool
We stayed the first evening in a free camping ground in Motueka. Nico and the girls enjoyed a swim in the sea side pool, with some local kids.
High and low tides are so dramatic in this area that you almost do not recognize where you are, landscape is totally different in the evening compared to the morning. Tidal change is 5.4 meters, exposing wast amount of sea berth when the tide is low.
Because of tidal change it is common to build a pool next to the beach. It gets filled with seawater when there is high tide, and people can continue to swim when the sea disappears from sight. Coming from Mediterranean and Baltic, we found this daily change in nature very interesting. Also the view with standing boats in the middle of the sand were fascinating.
Water is rising slowly
The design of some of the boats allows them to sit in their places when there is no water. Also boat owners are used to pull boats with four wheelers when needed.
A friend recommended us to visit Kaiteriteri, small town near by. It is famous with its crystal clear water and sandy beaches. It was about 20 min from Motueka at the border of Abel Tasman national park.
Kaiteriteri Beach
With kids we can’t hike that long and the day was so sunny and warm that it felt silly to spend it in thick forrest. So, we jumped to a taxi boat which took us for a small sailing trip.
We drove with sea taxi about 1 hour to Torrent Bay. On the beach we were greeted by two happy sailors in a 35ft catamaran.
Multi’s are ideal for many reasons
We had a short lunch break on the shore and then jumped on board and sailed back to town. On the way we saw more fur seal colonies and a local sight, Split Apple Rock. It was great to get out on the sea. Especially since the boat was pretty quick and fun to sail.
Split Apple Rock
This short cruise at the shores of Abel Tasman concluded all our to do’s in the South Island. Very impressed and a bit fed up with the rain, we were ready to move on. We drove to Picton, where we took the ferry to the North Island.
This is ended yet another chapter of our journey. Saying goodbye to one of the most beautiful places in the world, made us a bit emotional. We don’t know if we will ever come back here, time will tell. But if you can, you definitely should…
Goodbye South Island!
Last rocks before the open sea.
Sunset at Cook Strait.
4 bags of clothes 