New Zealand 9 (or ... Abel Tasman)

9 April 2011

Saturday afternoon before the buoy went out, we drove around Tasman Bay to Marahau at the south end of Abel Tasman National Park. (There's no label on it, but Marahau is just north of Kaiteriteri on last post's map.)

We stayed at a little lodge just outside the park.

Our room was right there on the right.

We got there late afternoon, and went for a short walk into the park right after checking in. Just down the road and across the bridge and we were in the park.

Here's Lynne where the hiking trail crosses into the park.

Little stream crossings everywhere. Since it had been raining a lot when we left Santa Cruz, I kept thinking that everything being green sort of makes sense. But then I would remember that New Zealand was just coming out of their dry season... summer was just ending, and it was still ridiculously green there. That's a good color name. it's sort of like kelly green. Definitely darker than lime green, and definitely lighter than forest green. "Ridiculously Green"

Just somewhere along the trail...

We walked down to the beach where the vegetation just came pretty much right down to the sand. A rocky beach...

Here's where a little creek is entering the ocean.

Still on the beach. We walked around a the sand for a bit and ran into this... Just about as picturesque as you could ask for. Too bad I'm not a better picturer!

That's actually the same species tree as the Monterey Cypress we have here.
They grow a lot bigger down there.

We finally left the beach and walked back up on the trail. Just feet (actually, it was just meters) away from the rocky beach scene, you get back into the forest.

Wow, ferns. Ponga, actually. The silver tree fern. I like ferns.

Really, I like ferns. This will probably come as a surprise to Lynne, but it's true. I mean, how could you not like ferns.

See? That's what I'm talking about.

There's still more Abel Tasman to come.....