On Thursday morning I went to the Museum of City and Sea in Wellington. It has a large exhibition about the history of the city and the Cook Strait which separates the two islands of New Zealand. The section dedicated to ships that sank in the strait was the perfect preparation for afternoon task: the ferry to the South Island. Just when I wanted to go to the ferry terminal I got a message that the departure will be delayed by 2 hours. This was really bad news because after arriving at the South Island I planned to rent a car and drive to Motueka where I had booked a hostel. The delay meant that I would have to do most of the driving after dark and not during daylight. In the end everything went well and I arrived in Motueka in my new Nissan Tiida at around 10PM.
On the next day I was ready for my first proper hiking trip at the Abel Tasman national park - one of the Great Walks in New Zealand. The tricky part about this track is that it goes along the shore and you have to plan your trip according to the tides because some sections can only be passed during low tide.
I took one of the water taxis from the car park to Torrent bay and from there I walked through breathtaking scenery for about 7 hours until Awaroa bay. I spent the night at one of the DOC huts. These are a great alternative to camping because you get a shelter, a matrass and drinking water. On the next day I continued further north to the next water taxi pick-up spot. During the boat ride back I was really lucky to see several seals (or sea lions, it's really hard to tell them apart).
I uploaded some of the photos to the web album (upper right corner).
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