NZ Day 3 - Abel Tasman National Park

Our plan for today was to take an extended boat tour in Abel Tasman National Park, and then get dropped off so we could hike the 11ish kms back to a beach where we’d be picked up again by the boat.  The forecast was pretty bad but we had all our rain gear and warm gear and lunch stuff packed so we were prepared to go regardless of the conditions. Unfortunately when we rocked up at the ticket office in the morning we received the news that our extended tour wouldn’t be running due to the large swell and poor weather.  Our alternative was to do a much shorter boat trip, then hike back down to the entrance of the park and get the bus out. This still sounded pretty good to me - for a moment there I thought we weren’t going to get to go at all, so it was a relief we had another option.   With our new plans organised we had to scurry along to the next beach to get onto the boat.. 

Once safely on board we cruised up the coast, checking out Split Apple rock, and some other sites along the way.  

The eroded granite rock formations reminded me of Flinders Island, and the slightly tropical feel of the vegetation reminded me of the national park we visited in Penang - minus the tonnes and tonnes of rubbish of course!

Once on the beach we did a walk to a lookout which was about 3k, then we started on the longer (12.4k) hike back to the park entrance  

When I looked at the land from the boat I assumed our day would be spent hiking up over steep spurs then down into deep gullies, but in actual fact the track was nearly as smooth and flat as it could possibly be, it wound its way around the hill sides - a treat for all the overnight hikers I reckon.  The campsites and huts looked really nice, grassy and lovely with beautiful views of the beaches. One day we’ll come back and do some kayak-camping here - with better weather this place would be stunning.