Abel Tasman Park

Saturday, Feb. 19:
 

Lots of interesting rock formations

Had a horrible night's sleep at Bella Vista last night after partyers a couple units over were talking loudly and drinking until 2am.  Which meant we decided to checkout and find somewhere else to stay.  Took the Discovery Day tour from Abel Tasman Sea Shuttle, for $72 each.  Ended up booking it at the Eden's Edge Backpackers lodge in Motueka on the way to Kaiteritiri beach.  Unfortunately Eden's Edge was booked for accommodation for that night, but she was more than willing to book the shuttle for us, as she gets 10% - very nice, talkative lady actually.  Turns out you can just book the various boat tours at the beach, but it was pretty busy when we got there.

Golden sand beaches, but cold water!

We enjoyed the cruise for the first hour or so, as the various bays along the coast are very pretty, with golden beaches, greeny blue water and rugged rainforest down to the shoreline.  The boat was pretty full.  The Sea Shuttle basically stopped in six bays to drop people off until we reached the top bay, Totaranui Bay. Then on the way back, we stopped again in a couple bays before dropping us off in Bark Bay at about 1:30pm.  There is a 6 km coast track hike south towards Torrent Bay, where we were scheduled for shuttle pick up at 4:45pm.  You could add on another 30 minute walk to the adjacent Anchorage Bay, if it was low tide, or another 90 minutes if high tide.  

Track between Bark Bay & Torrent Bay

The hike was enjoyable, again through lush forest including black beech trees (although it appeared to be quite dry while we were there) with peeks here and there at the luscious blue ocean.  Everything is so green here, not much color variation or flowers.  Also got to cross the Falls River swingbridge, not for the height-sensitive types (Mom you'd hate this!).  We arrived at Torrent Bay just after 3 pm, and decided we'd hitch a ride on the earlier boat back to Kaiteriteri at 3:45pm.  Alot of people got wet boarding the boat as some swells came into the bay just as we were wading in th water onto the gangway.  Headed back to Nelson to find accommodation, and stayed at the much quieter Amber Court Motor Lodge in Tahunanui near the Bella Vista.  The owner was a wise guy though, teasing us about our wimpiness on the roads here, telling me to go the local hardware store, buy some concrete to toughen up!!  The cheekiness!!

Tahunanui Beach at dusk, Nelson

Just wanted to add that the main beach in Nelson, Tahunanui Beach, is absolutely beautiful, and under-rated compared to the pebbly but golden Kaiteritiri beach by Abel Tasman park. It was right near our hotel in Tahunanui so we visited it in the evenings both nights.  The beach is almost flat, so at low tide, the sand seems to go on for miles, and the sand is soooo soft, with no rocks and a few shells.  This is a great swimming beach - unfortunately we ran out of time for that.