We woke up to a campsite in the clouds. It was pretty cold so our morning cornflakes required a dose of hot milk!
We wound our way back down the mountains and headed to Marahua. It was the end of the road for the car but the start of the famous Abel Tasman coastal walk. The weather was unfortunately not the best but we followed the first part of the track into the distance. We turned around after a short while and the tide had gone out, so we walked back along the beach.
There were many shells and where the water had been shallow, a number of people had written messages with the pebbles. Lots of different birds came on to the beach to feed, especially the orange beaked oyster catchers!
Back at the car, we drove on to Split Apple rock, which was in a small sandy bay. The rock is millions of years old and looks just like an apple cut into 2 halves. We took a walk along the beach followed by a tea break.
On to Nelson next. A much larger town than we expected. A quick stroll along the shopping streets and a short visit to the marina and we'd seen enough. It was still quite a way to tonight's camping spot amongst the Marlborough Sound, so onwards!
The road leading to the camping area was narrow and windy. There was no one else brave enough to camp in this wet weather, so we had the place to ourselves or so we thought. But ... we happily shared this remote spot with the singing birds, cackling possums and other animals going about their daily rituals.
We wound our way back down the mountains and headed to Marahua. It was the end of the road for the car but the start of the famous Abel Tasman coastal walk. The weather was unfortunately not the best but we followed the first part of the track into the distance. We turned around after a short while and the tide had gone out, so we walked back along the beach.
There were many shells and where the water had been shallow, a number of people had written messages with the pebbles. Lots of different birds came on to the beach to feed, especially the orange beaked oyster catchers!
Back at the car, we drove on to Split Apple rock, which was in a small sandy bay. The rock is millions of years old and looks just like an apple cut into 2 halves. We took a walk along the beach followed by a tea break.
On to Nelson next. A much larger town than we expected. A quick stroll along the shopping streets and a short visit to the marina and we'd seen enough. It was still quite a way to tonight's camping spot amongst the Marlborough Sound, so onwards!
The road leading to the camping area was narrow and windy. There was no one else brave enough to camp in this wet weather, so we had the place to ourselves or so we thought. But ... we happily shared this remote spot with the singing birds, cackling possums and other animals going about their daily rituals.
