march 20 -march 25

march 20 monday


we wanted to do some hiking in abel tasman national park, but it was not a day for cycling today due the drizzle, so we rented a cabin at the campground and left our tent, which almost dried out in the afternoon. even the worst weather is better if you have a room under a roof to stay. so eva did a bit of writing and i did a stroll along the pohara beach to find some of the beautiful shells, but i didn´t. had another lazy day and a nice steak for dinner.

march 21 tuesday


finally we went to tataranui at the end of the "abel tasman track". to get there we had to climb a 300m ascent to the "pigeon saddle" that took about an hour of hard work on a winding argentine-style gravel road. at some parts we had to rest every 500m to load up our energylevel. then we arrived at lunchtime in tataranui, a doc campground with no hot water or kitchenfacilities for incredible 12 dollars each. that was a rip off, but the weather was good and we decided to stay though. went for a nice walk on the abel tasman track. due to daylight saving time it was dark at 8:00 pm and we went to bed early.

march 22 wednesday


did a 6 hours hike in the abel tasman national park, a big loop leading us through forrest up and down the hills, with some nice beaches, a cormorand waiting for us. "the most beautiful hikingtrack" in new zealand was a little bit boring after 3 hours cos the variety was a little bit low. reached the campground tired after 6 hours.

march 23 thursday


back to pohara over the "pigeon saddle" was quite easier than two days ago. we did it without stop and eva was very proud of that. we stayed at the same campground and went shopping to takaka with unloaded

march 24 friday

in the morning we had a nice conversation with tim and anja from the us and carol from england. left to takaka to get the shuttle bus to havelock at 1:00 pm. we pitched out tent at one of the worst campgrounds on the south island. it was cold and stormy.

march 25 saturday


cycling through the marlborough sounds from havelock to picton was nice, but the wind was still cold, southerly wind from the arctic with heavy gusts sometimes. we arrived at noon in picton and eva rented a cabin at "marina holiday park" for three nights. we supported in picton and found a cosy cabin at the campground afterwards. for the first time in new zealand we found a lot of friendly people here, even some germans who said hello, strange place !