We drove a little further west from Abel Tasman, went through Golden Bay and on to Farewell Spit. Just south is Wharariki, a rugged, scenic stretch of beach that more resembles Britain. There were windswept trees, seals, and peacocks in the parking lot! We also found a load of Tuatuas (small clams) which make for a great meal.
For Jill's birthday we went to Hanmer Springs, a hot spring resort town. It was chilly, with snow on the surrounding hills- great time for hot springs!
We were only in Hanmer for a couple days, then drove Lewis Pass, over the Alps again, to the Abel Tasman region.
Abel Tasman is a national park on the northern end of the south island. It's sheltered by headlands on either side, so even though you're on the sea, it's flat and calm like a lake, without the swells you see at other beaches around the country. This, combined with orange sand/golden beaches, crystal clear water, and the warm climate, makes this area resemble tropical beaches like the Carribean. In the summer, people flock to this place, and its one of the busiest places in the country.
We left this area until Autumn on purpose, as its mostly deserted now, but the weather is still nice. We stayed in holiday parks and campgrounds with 1000+ capacities, yet only a few campers this time of year.
One of the best ways to explore Abel Tasman is by Kayak, so we rented a Kayak for the day and it was a great experience. We were given a quick instruction and then sent on our way. This place is all about secluded coves, and we also paddled out to explore a couple islands. We found some groups of seals, and lots of seal pups- so much fun when they swim under the boat and check us out!
The area surrounding Abel Tasman is packed full of places to explore, a place called "The Grove" was a short walk through limestone jungle.
Rawhiti cave was an open air limestone cave, with more stalactites than you can count.
We had another workstay booked at a farm just outside of Fairlie, which is near Tekapo and the Mt. Cook region. This was a large working farm, with 100s of sheep, cattle, and deer. But we were selected to work here for for a different reason, to build a garden playhouse for future grandchildren!
The project was built mostly out of recycled materials and with a curved roof (modeled after a birdhouse!) so it took more work than we originally thought. We had to come back after our trip for Jill's birthday to finish it off, but it was worth it, it turned out great and our host Lyn really loved it. I even learned myself a few new things out of this one!
We stayed in a beautiful self contained cottage separate from the main house. The farm was extremely scenic, with mountain ranges in the background.
We shared the cottage for some time with a couple French helpxers, they were on 1 year visas like us.
It was nice to share some travel stories.
Jill's job every day was to feed the 2 chickens, and feed Morgan the pig his slops.
They also had a friendly Jack Russel named George.
