Nelson and the Abel Tasman
Posted: March 6th, 2011 by Scott
When we made it up to Nelson which is at the top of the South Island we decided to head out to Abel Tasman National Park for a couple days of camping and some time exploring the park. The next day we opted to take a kayak trip on the bay.
Kayak Captain Scott
We made it out to Tonga island which has a colony of Fur Seals. There were some cute pups as well as a few older seals doing what they do best, laze around in the sun.
Its a tough life being a seal
Since the park is along the coast and is so large, they have water taxi services that will take you to several bays around the park. So after a nice picnic on the beach after our kayak, we had to hike back down through the park to the beach where our water taxi would pick us up. Along the hike we were treated to some gorgeous views of the bays.
Bay views
When we were picked up and brought back to the town just south of the park it was low tide. This wouldn’t normally be remarkable, except that in the bay, they can have a massive 5.2 meter tide. This, along with the very shallow beach means that when we got back to town, instead of being dropped off at the dock where we were picked up in the morning, we had to get picked up about 300 meters out on the sand which was under water at high tide.
Low tide means a tractor tow back to the marina.
Back in Nelson, we had a relaxing sunny afternoon. We heard about a neat beer bar called Freehouse which is housed in an old church. They have a garden area out front. When we got there it was such a beautiful day that there were heaps of people sitting on the grass enjoying their drinks, so we joined.
Beer, food, grass, what could be better
They don’t serve food at the Freehouse, but they do allow you to bring in food from any of the restaurants nearby. We decided on Indian from across the street. When we picked it up, the bar even provided us with plates and cutlery, what a great idea!