Abel Tasman

This morning Beth and I woke up really early so we could drive to Marahau to catch a water taxi to take us into Abel Tasman National Park. But it was pouring rain! I am pretty sure Beth was 100% against going because it was raining so hard, but I knew this was one of the most beautiful national parks in NZ and that we had to do it! So we drove up to Marahau, all the while its still pouring, and we get there and hear the lady behind the desk telling people that everything was cancelled! I was so disappointed because we only had the one day in Nelson to do this trip! But we lucked out! Only Kayak trips were cancelled so we were still good to go. We load up into the boat so that they can drive us down to the launch so the water taxi can be on its way! As we got closer I kept wondering to myself how this was going to work, because the whole bay was in low tide and there was no water covering the bottom of the ramp and only a few feet of water in the bay for a few hundred meters! Don’t worry, they had a solution. The tractor pulling us, just went straight down the ramp and started pulling the trailer out into the bay, when we finally got to the end of the sand bar and they could back us into enough water to launch the boat, off we went! Huge swell coming up around the boat, and we had a 45 minute boat ride to our drop off point! When we finally got there the driver says “well, its low tide so you’re gonna need to take your shoes off and roll up your pants cause I’m going to have to drop you off in the water. Once again I think Beth was unhappy, but she took it like a champ and we got to shore! We put on our shoes and socks and began our 4 ½ hour hike! Just as we were starting off on our walk the rain was stopping and the clouds were parting. We ended up having the most beautiful sunny day and walk through the park. Abel Tasman became a national park because of its beautiful golden beaches and blue waters, and the cliffs and hills of thick rainforest that come right up to the beach. The walk was amazing, the most amazing sights and weather, We could not have asked for more. We got to our water taxi pick up sight about an hour early, so I raced and put my swim suit on and go swimming in the warm and turquoise waters of the Tasman Bay. It was truly an amazing experience, and Beth got to sit and look at the ocean for awhile, which is one of her favorite thing to do. On the Taxi ride back we got to see a dew seals and sea birds and admire the beautiful coast we had just been walking on. We were so exhausted driving home though we had to take turns driving so the other could take a few naps. We grabbed a quick meal of wine crackers and cheese and called it a night. It really was so amazing.