36 | Abel Tasman
- oliverbell92
- Feb 13, 2017
- 2 min read
Day 1 of KIWI Experience. I was praying to have a good group as we embarked on our voyage up the middle of the south island towards Nelson and the Abel Tasman National Park. I checked in with our kiwi driver Ben (Pinky) at 7:30am. Not a ridiculously early start but enough to warrant a coffee stop ASAP which came pretty soon thankfully. There were five lads and a few girls sat on the bus which was pretty empty at this point, I thought this isn’t a bad mix. After stopping in the middle of Farm County I came to realize that the bus was pretty much 80% English; I love discovering new cultures!
After cutting through mountain passageways and several weed crops just outside Nelson which is known as hippy country by the locals, we arrived at our destination. A sea of backpacks were queued outside reception in what looked like the only hostel in the area. Previously we gathered ingredients for a batch cooked dinner (one of many) coming in at a hefty $3.50 per head in town where a hand grabbed me on the shoulder. To my surprise it was my Israeli friends from the tour that I did in Uluru who I had no idea were there. It is crazy how you keep bumping into each other on the travelling circuit.
The next day we caught a boat taxi to the main beaches of the national park and hiked around one of the top 10 voted beaches in the World by Lonely Planet which James kindly walked in my video. The 3km excursion took us through the dense forest where hundreds of green flies flashed before your eyes every few moments. With limited time we were slightly rushed on the trail and had to take the shortest route possible back to the beach before taking off again past the seal colony and back to the bay we were calling home for the night.
With the nucleus of the lad group formed (Steve, James, Charlie, myself & Simon) we packed our bags and headed off to Westport.
With such little time I only got to take in a small amount at Abel Tasman but it did look amazing to do sea kayaking and go on the mountain bike trails.
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