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Friday, 5 May 2017

HAWAII 2.0


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…

Like Wellington, it’s nothing to write about, but in its defence it was just an overnight stay. Either way, a wheel on my suitcase being broken is probably the most memorable thing. A gorgeous mountainside resort nonetheless, but action-packed it was not. The next destination, however, most certainly was…

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