Abel Tasman

  

 Our first big destination on the South Island was the Abel Tasman National Park,

a gorgeous coastal trail on the North West side of the South Island.

  

Marie and Roelinda charged the walk to Anchorage,

Sabrina and I were getting over being sick so we took our time,

took pictures, and explored all of the bays up to Stillwell.

 

 This shot is just along the beginning of the coastal trail.

The silver fern on the left is the national plant of New Zealand.

There are so many types of old ferns here that it feels prehistoric at times.

 

Porters Beach

We explored a few bays, ate lunch with the gulls at Apple Tree Bay,

and lounged in the sun in our bikinis. 

 

 Sabrina is way better at handstand photos than me!

We started feeling adventurous and decided to explore the coastline because it was super low tide. We were able to boulder around so many more areas than would be accessible otherwise. Finally we came to this large rock with no safe way to climb over.

 

 But the view from this large rock (above) revealed a tantalizingly inaccessible beach with no trail outlet. Being so excited to find one scenic place in NZ not absolutley trampled by tourists was too much to resist, so we improvised.

  

We bushwhacked!

We made a 40 minute boulder and climb to get to this beach, with no clear promise of success or escape route, and arriving there felt so rewarding!

  

 It looked as though people hadn't been here for a long time. There were animal tracks and shells strewn everywhere. It's so rare to find a beautiful place that's not completely touristed out. It felt really special to be a part of one.  

Cool rock formations. What do you see??

I see skulls, Jesse sees eagles.

Fortunately we were able to boulder beyond this cove to get to Stillwell Bay and trail access again so we didn't have to bushwhack all the way back!

 

 After lounging around and exploring Stillwell Bay, we took a leisurely walk back up the trail we had skipped around.

 Mushroom!

Eating this results in one of two things:

1: you hallucinate like crazy! or 2: you die.

I didn't try it.

More pretty shots of the walk back:

 

 

 There was a really cool sculpture garden at the end of the trail.

 

  

  

  

Ha Sheep! These are everywhere in NZ