ABEL TASMAN NATIONAL PARK (16/08/09)
The Abel Tasman National Park in the far north of the South Island was our next destination. Well known for it's stunning coast line we first visited an inland section of the park. Walking through these dense temperate rainforests is always a special experience, it is a shame there is no way of expressing the intense smells, colourful birdsong and incredible range of greens which surround you at all times.
Our destination on this walk was Harwood's Hole, an enormous 200m (600ft) deep hole created by the collapse of the roof of a huge underground cavern. Halfway along the path ceased to be a path and became a rock scramble marked intermittently with orange signs.
Regretting wearing trainers with almost no grip to climb over wet, moss covered boulders.
Harwood's Hole. Unfortunately we did not get a closer look due to the aforementioned trainer issue and a deep seated desire not to plummet 200m into the bottom of a cave.
The return trip the same way inevitably meant slippery rock climbing once again. Note the smug smile on Liz's face as she easily hops from rock to rock wearing her sensible hiking boots.
Heading on to our night's accomodation we came to the most winding mountain road we have yet encountered (and New Zealand is the home of winding mountain roads). At the top of the road we had this spectacular view of the Southern Alps sandwiched between a cloud filled valley and the thick rain clouds which had followed us for a couple of days.
Standing in this strange are of clear air between cloud layers was quite a surreal experience.
The edge of the carpet of cloud as it met the hills on our side of the valley.
Descending the mountain road into the valley we had all but decided that we were going to see very little but fog for the next hour or so. However, to our surprise, we quickly left the cloud layer behind and entered a clear, if gloomy, valley a short drive from our beds on the coast.
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