Last days of Shannon's trip Down Under

So days 7 & 8 marked the end of Shannon's trip in New Zealand and so we ended with a 2 day hike in the Abel Tasman National Park.

Can we say Golden Beaches and I mean GOLDEN!! BEAUTIFUL!!

We walked what is known as the Abel Tasman Coast Track and is considered one of New Zealand's "Great Walks". We ended up with a few tidal crossings which I will explain later! :)

We started off from Kaiteriteri where we boarded another jet boat out to Anchorage. We made a quick stop at Split Apple Rock which is a crazy limestone formation that over the years has simply cracked down the middle. From Anchorage, we walked to Torrent Bay and then stopped at Bark Bay for the evening. We had a short side trip to Cleopatra's pool where one of the rivers forms a pool of water and had lunch. Beautiful spot.

We stayed in one of the huts at Bark Bay where we had bunks and cooked up some pasta. We also collected some great shells and spotted a little starfish!

The next morning we woke up and hiked to Awaroa Beach which was just gorgeous once again!

So this here is Onetahuni beach where Shannon and I had to do a tidal crossing...well...apparently we were a bit early and so we had to cross it while the tide was still in a bit so that we could make our water taxi later. This is Shannon here AFTER the cross...we were in it up over our knees and WOW it was cold!! :)

Finally we boarded a water taxi back to Kaiteriteri, drove back to Nelson, had a dinner out and went to sleep.

We woke up the last day in Nelson on Good Friday where Shannon and I grabbed some breakfast and then headed to the beach for a few hours before taking Shannon to the airport for her trip home.

We had a wonderful trip and I was sad to see her go! Thanks for the memories, Shannon!!