I’ll start this by saying that the journey from Picton to Abel Tasman National Park can only be described as insanely stunning. Massive mountain ranges and lakes dominate the landscape, but then they do so pretty much everywhere on the South Island. On arrival at the National Park, we caught a water taxi to another floating hostel as the sun fell, but this boat is much more modest in size compared to the Rockboat in the Bay of Islands.
It’s owned only by a couple who work seven months out of the year, retreating to land for the winter. The small boat includes a couple of sub-deck spaceship-like dormitories and a honeymoon room for yours truly. There was a dining area on the upper deck, with access to a higher platform for stargazing.
First things
first; the food provided was simply delectable. After a long day on both the
South Island Ferry and on the tour bus, it was the perfect meal. The same can
be said for the pancakes the next morning. But as this isn’t a food blog, I
won’t digress. I’ll simply say that we’re now on the eve of our departure from
New Zealand and the food remains incomparable.
What I’d like
to focus on here is the stargazing we did on the platform above the upper deck.
Never in my life had I seen such an incredibly clear, star-filled, dome-shaped
night sky. Nor had I ever seen shooting stars but that night I saw several. It
was a deeply humbling experience that reminded us of just how small we are
within the immeasurable vastness of the cosmos. It was certainly the opposite
to Bangkok where, even on a clear night, hardly any stars are visible because
of the smog levels.
No matter what
app you download on your smart phone, nothing can capture the night sky like
the eyes. So there are no pictures here I’m afraid. This one is for my memory
bank, and for your imagination. But it’s certainly inspired me to do as much
stargazing as possible going forward, and I implore you to do the same.
The next
morning we took a dinghy to a nearby beach where we started a 13km-hike along a
coastal trail. For the most part we hugged a cliff wall as we followed a
winding beaten track, sheltered by forest, but every now and again we found openings
to the ocean guarded by beautiful white beaches where we spent some time
relaxing. The lush greenery and the tropical plantations here bare uncanny
similarities to that of Hawaii. And while I’m yet to venture to Hawaii, having
seen the Jurassic Park movies I’m
well aware of what it looks like. Perhaps it’s why the filmmakers initially
scouted New Zealand for some of the films during principal photography. But
more on that in my Doubtful Sound post…
Our second
night in Abel Tasman National Park saw us stay at the freezing campsite that
was Old MacDonalds (turns out he did indeed have a farm), where we’d have been
much warmer staying in the tour’s breakfast cool-box than the freezing hut we
spent the night in shivering violently!
The following
day we made for Punakiki. We did visit a seal colony en route, and though we
eventually spotted a dozen or so, they were almost camouflage against the black
rocks and therefore barely visible in any photographs. The views from this area
are spectacular though: powerful waves crash against the rocky shore some
hundred feet below the viewpoint, and the sea sparkles like a bed of diamonds
under the low sun. As for Punakiki itself, well, there’s a reason it doesn’t
have its own blog post…
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