The Road to Abel Tasman

From Top to Bottom: (1) Tim has this habit of sweeping me off my feet - literally,
(2) Up the Mountain to Abel Tasman!,
(3) The beach was literally shimmering gold,
(4) Golden Bay,
(5) The beach we stopped to have lunch on,
(6) From the top of one of the mountains down into the valley,
(7) Mmm Mike don't jump!,
(8) Mike testing the water,
(9) Tim enjoying the sunshine,
(10) We had to stop on our way to Abel Tasmen cause it was so beautiful.

The South Island

We headed from the ferry to a free campsite about an hour or so away. The moon was so brilliant that we could see the mountains and fields and vineyards we were driving past and everything felt so quiet and prehistoric. We drove and drove and drove out to the absolute middle of no where- through fields and past fences into Mt. Rushmore Alpine Forest and we never actually made it to the campsite. We had to guerilla camp about 2 kilometers away as poor Adi doesn't have 4WD and was struggling with the terrible gravel roads we'd already done - never mind the river and rocks ahead! We made a campfire before finally going to sleep.

When we woke in the morning we discovered that the small river we parked next to was crystal clear and the mountains were filled with miles of beautiful pine trees. I made a fire to boil tea and soon discovered that there were gigantic bees everywhere! We were so secluded from people and just spent the morning enjoying the peace and quiet and sunshine.