Golden Bay at Farewell Spit

After catching up on a few hours of sleep, we had a leisurely morning in a parking lot near Picton and planned our route for the South Island. However, we became acutely aware that we were short on time, as Franzi was supposed to fly home from Wellington on March 29th. That meant we only had 18 days to explore the entire South Island, which would be doable but quite stressful. Additionally, Thomas and Miriam wanted to work before continuing their travels, so the mood was quite down because we didn't want to part yet... Together, we headed to Nelson, where the two of them would look for work. There we met two friends of Thomas and Miriam - Maren and Mathis - who had been working in Nelson for several weeks, and we had a fun evening together.

The next day, all our problems suddenly vanished, because Franzi's return flight had been rescheduled for 13 days later than planned. And after Maren and Mathis managed to secure jobs at the company where they work, we now had enough time for the four of us to explore the South Island together!

After spending another day in the charming town of Nelson, we set off for our first stop: Abel Tasman National Park. On the first day, we drove up to Farewell Spit to have a look around. However, the weather wasn't particularly good, so the first stretch of beach didn't look very spectacular. Since it was high tide, there was only a narrow path next to the water, and we had to climb over logs and fight through bushes... :P

Without any goal or plan, we simply followed our instincts and followed a sign that led to a fossil point. The path initially took us through woods and meadows, which looked beautiful but became somewhat boring after a while.

So we were amazed when a huge sand dune suddenly appeared in front of us, and after climbing it, we could see kilometers of sandy beach and the sea... *-* We took a short break and admired the view, when suddenly the clouds cleared and the sun came out! The moment couldn't have been more perfect! After a while, we continued walking along the beach and couldn't stop marveling.

The blue sky, the soft sand, countless beautiful shells and stones, the sea, and in the background, a few mountains... this place is simply incredible!

When we returned to the first beach, we were totally surprised because the tide had gone out and the sea was hardly visible. We decided to take a short walk in the intertidal zone to maybe see some marine creatures up close and personal, as we could only guess at their presence from a distance. But after being almost bitten by crabs about 10 times, we turned back and hurried to the parking lot because we were quite hungry by then!

After a cozy dinner in the parking lot - while the sun set between the trees, casting everything in a golden light - the day came to an end, and we happily snuggled into our beds! :)