The Short Report - Middle Earth Meander - New Zealand 2016 - February 2016

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With our time on the North Island at an end, we began the drive south, headed for the capital of Wellington. Here we spent a day exploring the city in advance of our early-morning ferry crossing to the South Island the next morning. We enjoyed Wellington's friendly, clean vibe, visited the national museum and the extensive and beautiful botanic gardens.

Wellington Waterfront

Elaborate Wharenui

Streets of the Capital

Botanic Gardens

Wellington Monuments

The next morning we boarded the Kaitaki - the largest ferry plying the waters of New Zealand - for the three-hour journey across the Cook Strait to the South Island. From there we drove along the sounds of the Marlborough region, arriving in a few hours in the Tasman Bay area, home to the city of Nelson and productive farmlands. In particular, the Tasman Bay area is known for the quality of its hops and breweries - something we hoped to explore.

Crossing the Cook Strait

Typhoon Remnants

Bike Ferry

In our original schedule, we had planned to start a three-day kayak-and-hike trip in Abel Tasman, a beautiful coastal national park situated on Tasman Bay. Unfortunately, the remnants of a Pacific typhoon pushed us to delay the start of that trip, and for the first two days on the south island, we did a mix of easy cycling (when it wasn't raining) and city visiting (when it was). We cycled a pretty portion of the Tasman Bay area's "Great Taste" Great Ride, sampled many different local beers, and visited the maker of "The One Ring".

Tasman Bay

Great Taste Ride

Tasman Beer Sampling

The one forger

The inclement weather cleared away on our third day (as predicted), and we began our Abel Tasman kayaking adventure with the help of a local kayak rental company. We enjoyed two easy and short days of kayaking, staying each night at a beachside campsite. On the third day, we relinquished the kayaks and did a long hike back south along a section of the Abel Tasman Coast Track - one of New Zealand's nine Great Walks. The weather was generally very nice and we were able to sample a little bit of each type of beauty the Abel Tasman area has to offer: the turquoise waters, the cove-studded coastline, wide sandy beaches, and a close-in look at the native podocarp, beech, and tree fern forests.