Abel Tasman National Park

Leaving Greymouth we headed north to a small town called Motueka. This is the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park. Strangely enough winter didn't seem to have come to Motueka, the weather was fantastic and the hostel had a lovely hot tub in the garden so it was all good!

I've wanted to go to Abel Tasman for years so we were up bright and early next day for a walk through the park although even after 6 hours walking we'd only seen a tiny piece of it. It's huge at over 22,000ha.

The next morning we took a guided sea kayaking trip around the park. It was fantastic. We had 5 hours to kayak from Marahou to Bark Bay taking in some of the most beautiful golden sand beaches and aquamarine lagoons along the way.

We kayaked around Pinnacle island which is home to a seal colony and even saw a little blue penguin swimming in the water in front of us - very cool! The water was crystal clear and the most amazing colour. Apart from our guide (who served up a fab lunch on Te Pukatere beach) we didn't see another person all day - felt like our own little piece of paradise.

That night we sat in the hot-tub, under the stars, drink in hand - life is great!