Day 4 had us up early and on the road for a drive along the
beautiful coastal section of State Highway 1, ranked in the top 10 beautiful drives
in New Zealand. Described in an online
blog as “not only stunning because of the natural landscapes but because of
wildlife you’ll see along the way. Baby seal pups squashed to a bloody pulp in
the middle of the road is such a pleasing sight. The Peregrine falcons swooping
down from up on high, landing neatly, eating their flesh and picking out whats
left of their juicy eye balls, yellow eyed penguins being pestered by
overzealous tourists and marooned whales make, what only can be described as, a
great family fun day out……... Just kidding (to an extent) you may see a few
dead seals but most of them are alive and well; and they are so cute and fuzzy
(from far away)”.
We did not have the time to hike the entire route but planned to spend one day exploring a small part of it. We chose to hike a pretty 12-kilometre section in the middle which required us to take a water taxi to the start and a pickup 6 hours later. This section would take us into several beaches, several ridges, a cable suspension bridge, some coastal forests and if we were lucky, we would finish the hike crossing a tidewater bay, missing a low tide meant adding on another 3 kilometre walk around the bay.
Up early Day 5 for a 50-kilometre drive to the small town of Kaiteriteri where we would be picked up at 8:00 am on the beach and dropped off at Bark Bay and picked up 6 hours later at Marahau. The track is well used by locals and tourists so we wanted to hit the trail as early as possible and avoid the crowds that would be showing up later in the day. We left quite a few millennial's still asleep back at the hostel that would be coming later.
The taxi showed up on time and before dropping us off, did a drive by of Split Rock
and a small seal colony on Adele Island.
Our first beach was winner. We were dropped off on a long sand spit formed by a small river entering the bay.
As promised we saw beautiful beaches, although we had wait 15 minutes for a boat load of tourists to unload, take a picture, reload and sail away before we could have the beach to ourselves. Well, at least for 10 minutes anyway.
A suspension bridge taking us to a coastal forest.
We made low tide and were able to walk across the bay. The bay was covered in sharp little shells making the barefoot crossing a little uncomfortable.
And a shady beach where we could wait for our taxi.
Tomorrow we head to the town of Picton where we will pick up our ferry and cross over to the North Island and hopefully find a wine shop that is open.
Once I read this, who wouldn’t want to take a ride
here.
We are headed for Nelson, a small city located on the north
end of the South Island. This would be the
base for our hike into the beautiful Able Tasman national park.
The highway took us through Canterbury, the first of three wine areas that
we would travel through today. Okay,
okay, I admit that that is the real reason I chose this route. Perhaps we should have delayed our departure a
little as we arrived to early to find any tasting rooms open in Canterbury just
a short distance outside Christchurch.
We
still had two more areas so as the they say “no problems mate”.
Arriving into the Waipera Valley wine area we found most of
the wineries closed or only open a few days a week and this was not the
day. “No problems mate”, we still had the
Marlborough/Blenheim wine area which we is located at the other end of the coast
highway.
From the Waipera Valley, we
began the descent down to the coastal section of the highway.
Perhaps I should have read the fine print. “recent
earthquakes and storms have done a considerable amount of damage to this
stretch of road and whilst maintenance teams are doing their best to fix it, it
will no doubt still take several years."
On November 13, 2016, a magnitude 7.8 quake hit the east
coast of the South Island. The quake and the aftershocks destroyed
numerous sections of the highway. 2 years later, the road has been opened but
the massive re-construction is ongoing along a 120-kilometre section of the
road.
What should have taken 90 minutes, descended into a 5 hour stop and go trip
from hell. Thank god, the earthquake did
not destroy the coasts beauty, in fact may have added to it. We could admire it
as we sat idling in the “way too many” line ups, telepathically encouraging flag
persons to let us through.
We reached the Marlborough wine area just after closing
time. The vineyards were pretty awesome though.
Nelson is the oldest city in the South Island and the 2nd
oldest city in New Zealand. Named after Admiral Horatio Nelson, it was
established in 1841. We are booked into one of the many hostels that are found there. While a pleasant little place, we were here for the park. Abel
Tasman National Park is a wilderness preserve, well known for the 60-kilometre trail that travels along golden sand beaches,
coastal forests and across ridges that provide glorious vistas of Cook Strait.
We did not have the time to hike the entire route but planned to spend one day exploring a small part of it. We chose to hike a pretty 12-kilometre section in the middle which required us to take a water taxi to the start and a pickup 6 hours later. This section would take us into several beaches, several ridges, a cable suspension bridge, some coastal forests and if we were lucky, we would finish the hike crossing a tidewater bay, missing a low tide meant adding on another 3 kilometre walk around the bay.
Up early Day 5 for a 50-kilometre drive to the small town of Kaiteriteri where we would be picked up at 8:00 am on the beach and dropped off at Bark Bay and picked up 6 hours later at Marahau. The track is well used by locals and tourists so we wanted to hit the trail as early as possible and avoid the crowds that would be showing up later in the day. We left quite a few millennial's still asleep back at the hostel that would be coming later.
The taxi showed up on time and before dropping us off, did a drive by of Split Rock
and a small seal colony on Adele Island.
Our first beach was winner. We were dropped off on a long sand spit formed by a small river entering the bay.
As promised we saw beautiful beaches, although we had wait 15 minutes for a boat load of tourists to unload, take a picture, reload and sail away before we could have the beach to ourselves. Well, at least for 10 minutes anyway.
A suspension bridge taking us to a coastal forest.
We made low tide and were able to walk across the bay. The bay was covered in sharp little shells making the barefoot crossing a little uncomfortable.
And a shady beach where we could wait for our taxi.
Tomorrow we head to the town of Picton where we will pick up our ferry and cross over to the North Island and hopefully find a wine shop that is open.
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