Day 18-19 Nelson with Boat & Hiking Tour in Abel Tasman National Park

We had a relaxing morning at the B & B and got into Blenheim for a walkabout and lunch before our bus ride.

We left Renwick via a ride by the B & B Owner into Blenheim.  In Blenheim we took the Intercity Bus to Nelson.  We took the 1:30pm bus and it was about a 2 hour drive.  It was quite scenic along the route.  It started out in the flats of wine country and moved into farmland and then more mountainous country.  

Following arrival in Nelson we had a walkabout in the main business area of town and went for supper at a Vietnamese restaurant called The Green Bamboo.     

We stayed in Nelson for 2 nights at Cedar Grove Motor Lodge through booking.com for about $386 NZ.   

We were up very early the next day for pick up by our tour bus connection at 7:00am.   

The bus took us to Kaiterteri for a tour by Wilsons (Abel Tasman National Park).  Abel Tasman National Park, named after the Dutch explorer, who never actually landed in the park area but was repelled by Maori natives.  The park is renowned for its golden beach coastline, native forests, granite cliffs and famous coastal walks.   Despite it being the smallest New Zealand national park it is probably the most popular with boat tours and coastal hiking.

The tour we embarked on was titled by Wilsons as the “Vista Great Day Out.”   It included bus pickup in Nelson, drive to and from Kaiteriteri, a boat tour 4-5 hours that went up along the coast in Abel Tasman Park to Totaranui and then back to Tonga Quarry, where it dropped us off.  After the boat tour dropped us off we walked through rain forest, over swing bridges to a couple of waterfalls and beaches, the second of which is Medlands Beach, where the boat picked us up for the boat ride back to Kaiterteri.  The boat ride was of the scenic coastline of Abel Tasman park.  The walk was about 3 miles.  As part of the tour we had purchased a picnic lunch that we enjoyed beside the beach after the boat dropped us off for our hike.

After the boat picked us up on the beach for the return voyage it then dropped us back on shore (literally and as planned - because the tide was out and the boat could not use the high tide dock so we had to get off in mid-thigh deep water with staff assistance).  Then we were back on the bus which returned us to Nelson, getting back at about 6pm, a long day!

We finished off the day with a nice meal of Thai food at Tongtara Thai restaurant in Nelson. 

Luckily the weather was great for our tour day.  A little cool, about 13C at 7am and when the boat first started out but then it warmed up nicely to about 20C high midway through our hike.