Part 2- North of the South

Picton is a picturesque coastal town that serves as the ferry gateway to the south island. Our initial destination was to head over to Motueka, the nearest town to the Abel Tasman national park, host to some of the best known walks and one of new zealands to tramps (hehehe- I still find that funny).


We checked out the park and it was pretty awesome how incredibly variable it is. Some of the hillsides reminded me a lot of La Perdiza near Madrid, being quite rocky shrublands. These were intermingled with temperate rainforests, white sand beaches and awesome mountain ranges. All within minutes of driving! I understand why they claim that new zealand is so diverse… it damn well is! We scrambled down some rocky beaches and collected our dinner’s share of Pipis, some real tasty clams, which we promptly cooked up. Very tasty in a rissotto with a hint of wine.



We did a bit of kayaking on the east coast of the park. We hired out kayaks for the day. We were given clear instructions on where we were advised to go and were helpfully indicated not to go past a certain bend in the coastline. So obviously, we went past the point of no return, then around the corner, stayed for lunch, then took our long way back. Sweet.




In fact the weirdest thing was how on the way back, we approached this island looking suspiciously like King Kong’s home. I was in the midst of pointing this out to my buddies, when we hear this weird- as distant roar! Needless to say, we paddled on quite happily!