
From Mt Aspiring NP the
road took us over Haast Pass into West Coast. We stopped at various
falls, beaches, and other tiny not as interesting points. But what we
enjoyed was Jacksons Bay. It is one of the most southern point on
West Coast and has a very moving early settlers' story with ruined
big hopes as it was often in remote areas like this. West Coast also
welcomed us with rain, so typical for 'Wet Coast':-). As we did see
most of it during our Xmas trip we flew through just with few stops
in order to reach Christchurch for our friends' wedding party.

After unnecessary and
some necessary shopping spree, and of course a bit of hangover
relaxation :-) we headed back towards Arthurs Pass. We had planned to
climb up Avalanche Peak and then spend a night in Crow Hut, but rain
that was falling in West Coast was a snow fall in Arthurs Pass. So
because of safety reasons we chose alternative, track to Mt Bealey.
Similar altitude as Avalanche peak but with ridge covered in sunshine
in the end gave us one of the best days in NZ. The views were
amazing. Peaks were covered in snow and I even left an angel on snow
covered ridge at 1700m. Because of daylight and unmarked route we had
to turn around before we reached top of Mt Bealey but it was just
100m below and we still walked at least half of its ridge. And most
importantly we had a great time!

After a short visit to
Devils Punchbowl Falls and some geocashing we left Arthurs Pass and
drove back to West Coast. There we quickly stopped at Greymouth. From
there it a short distance to Punakaiki Pancake Rocks that were many
times recommended to us. Unfortunately, we arrived after high tide so
we did not see water being pushed through blowholes, but the rocks
looked really like typical English pancake breakfast. Just maple
sirup was missing:-).

But the main thing that
we still had planned on South Island was Abel Tasman National Park.
To be honest the organisation of the trip
was a bit of headache for me. Without internet to properly research I
was lost in decision making. So in the end, we headed to i-site and
got a great deal. The plan was to hire a sea-kayak and paddle to
Anchorage Hut. the worry was that they will not let us use the kayaks
on our own as we did not have any sea experience. But after short
training on the ground and 2 minutes on the sea the guide let us
paddle our way, just warning us to watch the time as we needed to
return the kayak at 3:30pm which was just 4 hours away.

From Czech we
have canoe experience but kayak is a bit different, especially the
sea one. It has a steering so the back one could paddle same as the
one in front. Like this you can travel quicker and it is also easier
to deal with se waves. We were lucky and even the last part where
wind are often unpredictable was calm and we could enjoy views. We
paddle along Adele Island, a natural reserve, which we could hear
from far away due to loud bird singing. We have also had a chance to
see seals swimming and relaxing on the shores. Then we crossed back
to land and found our perfect deserted beach. After lunch we headed
across the open sea to Torrent Bay and our goal, Anchorage Hut. After
kayak retrieval and relaxing tea at the hut we decided to do some
geocashing. Abel Tasman Track is one of the great walks, and very
famous one, so there are cashes all around the track. We have found
quite a few of them. But the biggest treasure was our first
'FTF-First-to-find' cashe.

The following day, this
time on our own feet, we walked to Onetahuti Beach where the water
taxi should have picked us up at 3pm. That was quite early for us,
especially that we normally start late and walk until late afternoon.
Also I have planned more than a day walk so we had to walk fast. The
track is relatively flat, but we could not use low tide routes (Abel
Tasman has the biggest differences between low and high tide-up to
4m!) and thus prolong our trip by 5km. But all was good, beaches and
views were amazing, so reached Onetahuti on time. Because of low
tide, our water taxi had to be lifted by tractor to be transported
back to about 300m distant shore.

But we certainly didn't
have enough of those beautiful beaches so the next day we walked the
most northern part of the great walk and taking inland route to make
it circular route. On the way we visited historic Whariwharangi Hut
that was back in perfect order after December floods. The signs of
floods were everywhere, mainly landslides, damaged or completely
closed roads and sandy mud everywhere. But that was long time ago so
we could enjoy our track with big smile on our faces, certainly on
mine:-). Abel Tasman was everything that people say about it. We
didn't have the chance to swim, but because of winter there were less
people what made this touristy spot bearable.

On South Island we
still had to make at least two stops-Farewell Spit and Malborough
Sounds. Farewell Spit is 27km long sandy beach, renowned as a bird
sanctuary but also as whale stranding place. Even in front of visitor
centre they have skeleton of baby whale and inside various pictures
and press comments.
On the way to Nelson we
also stopped at Pupu Springs-the clearest water springs in the world
that pumps out overwhelming 14,000 liters per second.We also had to make
stops in our favourite European bakery in
Motueka and stay overnight at $6 Maitai camp.
Between Nelson and
Picton there is a large area that is filled with small inlets,
islands, bays and beaches, which on the map looks like a maze.
Malborough Sounds are really interesting place, but very difficult to
ride through as even though sounds are not long their shorelines are
(Pelorous Sound is 42km long, but has 379km shoreline). We stayed two
days, stopping at bays and walking part of various tracks, but the
weather wasn't great so we slowly headed to Picton while picking up
more cashes along the way.
For our last night on
South Island (and my birthday:-)) we chose free DOC camp in Robin
Hood Bay. This secluded bay was just perfect. Moon was lighting the
beach and high tide was moving with rocks up and down the beach
making loud noises. And in the morning we could only say goodbye to
amazing South Island and wait what North Island will bring to us.
More pictures can be seen
here.
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