Nelson

View from the ferry

View from the ferry

View from the ferry

View from the ferry

View from the Ferry

View from the Ferry

Centre of NZ
Centre of NZ
View inland from the centre of NZ
View of the city from the centre of NZ
View towards the sea from the centre of New Zealand

Tide was nearly 5 metres high and the jetty was totally submerged! - We had to climb into the water taxi.
View from the water taxi
Water taxi was populated with Kiwis Water taxi continuing it's journey

The following are pictures taken of Abel Tasmin National Park

We left the North Island early in order to catch the ferry. It takes three hours to cross the Cook Strait and the ferry was pretty huge. They had a few cinemas on board and a few places to eat. It was pretty easy sailing and the views again was pretty spectacular. We boarded the bus mid afternoon and headed towards Nelson. I am staying a few extra nights here as Nelson is the gateway to the Abel Tasmin National Park. It is supposed to be one of the best spots in New Zealand. I booked myself for a walk the next day.

That evening I walked up the hill behind the hostel to the centre of New Zealand. The sun was setting and the views of Nelson were pretty special. Some people were sitting up there having dinner and it really did seem the ideal spot to spend the evening!

The next day we left at 7 in the morning for our walk of the park. It was hard work getting up that early as we had had a few early mornings before hand....

The day started with a coach ride to the edge of the park. We then got a water taxi to the start of the trail we were doing. The water taxi was good fun and we were speeding through the water and it was fairly bumpy going....

The walk takes about 5 hours and we end up at the coach stop. I learnt my lesson (finally) and wore my attractive sandals. Glad i did as from the get go it was pretty steep going. The weather was absolutely lovely and there wasn't a cloud in the sky!!! The track was carved out of the mountainside and so we were walking mostly in the shade of the surrounding forest of pine and fern trees. The track followed the coast and so every view had the sea in it!!! The sea changed colour from a bright green to a dark blue, depending on the tide and what was at the bottom of the sea. It was beautiful. So glad I got up early for the trip. I can see why its one (if not the best) walks in New Zealand.

Every so often you just had to stop to take a few pictures. I was doing the walk with someone from the bus and so we were chatting all the way along. We stopped after a while for lunch and the spot we picked was a beautiful beach. The sea was green and the sand golden. Kayakers were paddling around the coast and all was right with the world. We did the walk in around 4 hours and it was one of the best days yet. I was pretty knackered that night!!!!!