Abel Tasman National Park

After a lazy morning, we drove to Kaiteriteri at the start of the Abel Tasman National Park where we joined a small cruise boat to take us up the beautiful coastline as far as Onetahuti and Tonga Island. There were plenty of Australasian gannets and Caspian terns flying about all the way and at Tonga Island a small seal colony was lazing on the rocks.

It's amazing how many English tourists we have met and spoken with on our holiday so far. This seems to be the year in which everyone from England is having a holiday in NZ.

Crossing Cook Strait

Today (Feb 22nd) we crossed from North Island to South Island on the Interislander ferry. This went from Wellington to Picton via Cook Strait, Tory Channel and Queen Charlotte Sound. The scenery on this trip (3hrs) was breathtakingly beautiful - mile after mile of unspoilt coastal fjord scenery with untouched forests reaching down to shimmering turquoise coloured waters. The bright and sunny weather helped, of course. We then drove 110 spectacular kms to Nelson which is the gateway for the Abel Tasman National Park area. Nelson is a handsome city with hanging flower baskets everywhere in the main streets.