Day 321: Boulder Bank

Over by Nelson is a long natural spit of boulders with a lighthouse at the end. We decided to walk along it, but it proved to be much harder than we thought. There was no real path for most of the way, just boulders. On one side of the bank was the flat expanse of mud of the empty estuary. On the other was the sea. The sun blazed down on us and there was no shade at all. We were glad to shelter in the driftwood cabin above at lunchtime. If I was going to do this walk again, I would pick a cloudy day!!

We certainly didn't make it all the way to the lighthouse, but we did discover that the rocks are rich in sea urchins on the seaward side.

Day 320: Ngarua Caves

Ngarua Caves is just up the hill and as well as the usual stalagmites and stalactites it has a little collection of bones from animals that fell in over the years.  This is a small moa (small species, not a young animal).  It would have been maybe a bit smaller than Antonia.

Day 319: More hiking and kayaking

Penny went hiking on the coastal track again and Mike and Antonia went kayaking around the bay at Kaiteriteri.  I don't think any of us took our cameras so here's a picture of a 'museum' we made at the beach the other day.  It's made up of tiny things we found mixed in with the grains of sand.

Day 318: Split Apple Rock

Day 316: Abel Tasman Coastal Track

The Abel Tasman Coastal Track takes several days, so we just went to Anchorage and back.  That's already about 25 km. It's a really beautiful forest and beach type of walk.

Day 315: Antonia's engineering project

Drawing the roads

The engineering project

Day 314: Hanmer Springs - Marahau

What I love about New Zealand is that even the main highways look like little country roads.  Today's driving probably wasn't even on a main highway.  It's the sort of territory where you check the location of the next petrol station carefully, but when you're ready for a picnic lunch, you just pull off on a little track and find yourself on a pebble beach by the side of the river.  We eventually arrived at Marahau on the borders of the Abel Tasman park and it is just as lovely as it was when we left it.  We are going to take a couple of days off now.