Abel Tasman and Golden Bay
We have been planning our trip to Nelson and Abel tasman national park for a while now and were sloghtly disappointed to arrive in a very rainy nelson on monday. We had planned to go a guided camping/kayaking trip but learned at 7am tuesday that that was not going to happen for us. So naturally we went to bed and when we re-woke up, assessed our sitution and at Deb's great idea decided to rent a car and drive around the area so we could still see it but be slightly more dry from inside our car then the inside of a kayak. Luckily we had both invested in these great ponchos (debi's cost 99 cents, kitch's was $3 but had a drawstring hood!) So with our trusty ponchos (ponchy and ponchelonian) we braved the rain, got the cheapest car in town (Petunia the Nissan) and with the radio set to the station "voices of america" (featuring such classic american hits as MMM Bop!!!) set off on a spontaneous adventure.
The beaches in Abel tasman are amazing. The sand is really golden and the water looks turquoise on sunny days. On rainy days it looks more grey/brown but still beautiful beaches and it was cool to be on totally deserted beaches (because really no one else was crazy enough to so sight seeing in the rain).
We found maple trees at one of the beaches. A little touch of Canada here in NZ. And since it's fall here all the leaves were changing colour.
We went on a half hour hike up to this waterfall. Because of the rain it was like a mini Niagara...another touch of home :)
The roads here can be crazy. This road goes over the Takaka mountain. Makes for some adventurous driving at times...
We spent the night at a very cute little hostel/cottage. Our "dorm style" room turned out to be our own private room. So great! We woke up wednesday to the sun trying to break through so we took off in Petunia and chased the blue sky. It was perfect rainbow conditions and all day we kept seeing rainbows. We already love pit stops on the road a lot but we literally had to pull over every 5 seconds for great photo ops. They kept getting more and more perfect. They were the most perfect rainbows either of us had ever seen, ending with one right on the beach. Apparently the rain is good for something. Once the sun came out we headed back to the main beach (kaiteriteri, where deb went earlier in the trip to visit paul) and ended up climbing over a lot of rocks to get to this other beach, recommended by paul. We both sustained injuries, kitch cut open her toe and deb bruised her bum an scraped her legs. But hey it wouldnt be a real adventure without some scars to show from it.
We randomly found this on the beach - how appropriate for us. We love NZ too! You never know what's around the next corner here and what each day will bring. And sometimes a rainy day is just an excuse for a spontaneous roadtrip.
The beaches in Abel tasman are amazing. The sand is really golden and the water looks turquoise on sunny days. On rainy days it looks more grey/brown but still beautiful beaches and it was cool to be on totally deserted beaches (because really no one else was crazy enough to so sight seeing in the rain).
We found maple trees at one of the beaches. A little touch of Canada here in NZ. And since it's fall here all the leaves were changing colour.
We went on a half hour hike up to this waterfall. Because of the rain it was like a mini Niagara...another touch of home :)
The roads here can be crazy. This road goes over the Takaka mountain. Makes for some adventurous driving at times...
We spent the night at a very cute little hostel/cottage. Our "dorm style" room turned out to be our own private room. So great! We woke up wednesday to the sun trying to break through so we took off in Petunia and chased the blue sky. It was perfect rainbow conditions and all day we kept seeing rainbows. We already love pit stops on the road a lot but we literally had to pull over every 5 seconds for great photo ops. They kept getting more and more perfect. They were the most perfect rainbows either of us had ever seen, ending with one right on the beach. Apparently the rain is good for something. Once the sun came out we headed back to the main beach (kaiteriteri, where deb went earlier in the trip to visit paul) and ended up climbing over a lot of rocks to get to this other beach, recommended by paul. We both sustained injuries, kitch cut open her toe and deb bruised her bum an scraped her legs. But hey it wouldnt be a real adventure without some scars to show from it.
We randomly found this on the beach - how appropriate for us. We love NZ too! You never know what's around the next corner here and what each day will bring. And sometimes a rainy day is just an excuse for a spontaneous roadtrip.
posted by Debi and Kitch at
3:55 AM
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