We have now arrived on the South Island. We were lucky with the weather as the ferry 🚢 crossed the Cook Strait and contrary to fears and stories, it only swayed a little. The entrance to the South Island was characterized by a mighty and beautiful fjord landscape. After almost 3.5 hours + 1 hour loading / unloading, we reached Picton. Since the day was already long, we looked for a campground nearby. However, our destination for the next few days was Abel Tasman National Park. This was about 3 hours drive away. And although it is the smallest national park in NZ, it is the most popular and is known for its stunning landscapes. Of course, we also did some research here. The top activities in the national park were kayaking 🛶 and hiking 🥾🥾 Since the park is very remote and cars do not drive there, we had to rely on a water taxi. This brought us from our starting point to the hiking trailhead on Day 140. The preparations told us it would be a 20 km hike. We were already used to that by now. But this time our distance estimate misled us a bit and in the end, we walked almost 25 km and our feet were on fire. But the national park itself was impressive. Crystal clear water, turquoise sea, wide beaches, and lush greenery as far as the eye could see. Now we knew why it was so popular! We had a little highlight on the hike at about halfway. While we were leaving the famous Cleopatra Pools - I was already back on the trail, Falk was still scrambling over the rocks - suddenly 4 people started to watch the water, including Falk. At first, I thought there were fish there. But I was wrong 👈 Falk was looking for his
- well, who can guess it? -
SUNGLASSES 😎. And SURPRISE, they fell into the current and are GONE 🤯😳. Sound familiar? It does to us too. This is already the THIRD loss of such an item. Let's see how long we have to wait for a selfie with a fish this time. We haven't gotten one since the dolphin in Cambodia.
By the way, I'm collecting money 🤑. I want to buy Falk a nice sunglasses strap so he can hang them around his neck next time 🤣🤣😂 If you would like to contribute, leave a comment.