Day 43, 44 and 47 Abel Tasman National Park

On the way to the national park, we made a stop at a peanut butter factory, including a tour and making our own peanut butter, and an old shipwreck. We then stayed directly on the beach overlooking the Tasman Sea

Day 1 in the national park: We zipped up the national park with a water taxi, making a short stop at Split Apple Rock (a rock split in the middle by winter and water) and a sea lion colony. Then we were dropped off at one of the beaches (Bark Bay). From there, we hiked for 4 hours through rainforest, Mediterranean areas, and along beaches until we finally returned to the starting point with the water taxi after a little swim in the Tasman Sea.

The weather forecast for the next few days is unfortunately not very good, so we took a little detour to Takaka.

Day 2 in the national park: today we explored the national park by kayak. We visited the sea lion colony and were rewarded with cute and squeaky sea lion babies for the slightly strenuous ride. We also saw a lot of big stingrays (some were at least 1m in size). During lunch on the beach, we witnessed a very interesting mating ritual between two oystercatchers (a New Zealand shorebird). We returned with a stiff breeze and a good tailwind.