Saturday 28 February 2026 – The sun put his hat on and came out today, perhaps to celebrate our departure from Wellington. The view from our hotel room was very fine,

and so we drove up to the Mount Victoria Lookout, which is well-known for giving panoramic views of the city. We weren’t the only ones with this idea.

We bumbled our way through the crowds of people slowly making their way up the 73 steps to the viewpoint (because our knees had finally forgiven us after we inflicted the Tongariro Crossing on them), and there was indeed a good view, of both the city

and the area around the airport.

It’s a great panorama spot.

The observant among you will have noticed a bunch of mountain bikers in the photo of the car park, and there was clearly An Event going on because every so often one would take off and then just disappear down the steep hill that leads up Mount Victoria.

After admiring the view for a bit, we drove to the ferry port, as we had to catch the InterIslander to take us over to the South Island. I was anxious to get there in plenty of time, as we’d been told that it was booked up solidly for months ahead; missing it would thus have put a major crimp in the second half of the trip. We got to the ferry port about two hours early in the hope that there might be something like a terminal building with, who knows? maybe even a cafe.

Nope.

There was at least a toilet there, and a machine that would have served us coffee if it had not run out, and that was it.

All we had to amuse us for about an hour and a quarter was the view of the ferry we would be catching.

Eventually the serried ranks of vehicles were released to go on to the boat. We were taken by the significant number of camper vans there.

The queue of them stretched right back to the car park. Of course we got our turn to go into the belly of the machine

and, having parked, headed immediately to the Premium Lounge, access to which was included with our ticket.

And so passed a comfortable three and a half hours; there was decent food available and alcoholic drinks if we wanted, and a decent view of the passing scenery. The windows weren’t spotless, so every so often Jane or I would pop out on the viewing deck to take photographs. The views were impressive, both leaving Wellington

and threading our way through the islands outside Picton, the ferry’s destination.

At about 7pm we were let off the boat and started on our three-hour journey to Mārahau. The South Island scenery was some what different from what we’d seen on the North Island; more dramatic

and with a lot more vineyards,

which were, like their North Island counterparts, on the flat rather than on a slope as would be normal in Europe. We drove on through the fading light

stopping only to get more fuel and some breakfast essentials for the next day; and at around 10.15pm we arrived at Abel Tasman Lodge, so called because it is just by the entrance to the eponymous National Park. This would be our home for the next couple of days. We made ourselves a mug of Twinings Finest Earl Grey and hit the sack, as we had People To See And Things To Do the following day.

Sunday March 1 2026 – The People To Meet were Bill and his wife Eve. Bill and I went to school together back in the ’60s and had stayed intermittently in contact over the years since – another example of something Facebook is actually good for. They live about an hour’s drive from where we were staying and so could come over and take us to a couple of places to look around.

Bill had offered me a choice for the first Thing To Do; either a short but steep bush walk or a coffee cruise. Having proved my point with the Tongariro Crossing, I wasn’t in the mood for steep anything, and, as it happened, the route to it was closed, so the decision was made for us.  Bill drove us to Kaiteriteri;  en route, as well as vineyards, we saw fields of hops, which Bill told us the area was noted for.

For our coffee cruise, I was sort of expecting to board a fairly substantial vessel via a jetty and sit in a comfortable lounge drinking coffee whilst lovely scenery drifted by.

That was sort of how it worked. Sort of. But this is New Zealand, remember.

Our vessel was not all that substantial, and the boarding method had a lot in common with our Kapiti Island experience – walk on the beach and climb aboard; having expected a jetty, I was wearing street shoes and so a little spurt of agility was needed to avoid getting them wet in the waves. Several other vessels were using this boarding technique, so it’s obviously A Thing in these here parts.

Kaiteriteri is around the headland from Mārahau, and the two (and other points) are linked by a water taxi service, which seems a popular way to get around.

The chap who ran the coffee cruise was quite knowledgeable about the various things to be seen, both by way of wildlife and onshore properties, and happy to chat to us punters

which showed up his relaxed attitude to navigation

as we drifted past the nice scenery.

After about half an hour we reached the cruise’s destination;

Split Apple Rock. It’s just offshore by a long sweeping beach

which is clearly popular with kayakers and canoeists.

I was quite taken with the double canoe shown above, which was paddled dragon boat-style.

At anchor near the rock, the skipper amused us by throwing bread upon the waters

and, indeed, up into the air.

We eventually pottered back to Kaiteriteri where we had an efficiently served and very tasty lunch at a cafe/bar/restaurant called the Waterfront.

We headed back towards Mārahau after lunch, but Bill and Eve took us on a small diversion intriguingly named the Riuwaka Resurgence. This is a Māori Sacred Place, as evidenced by the waharoa (carved entranceway) to the walking path,

which leads to a short and pleasant stroll (including some steps, mind) past scenes of riparian loveliness

to a water hole

which is the Resurgence in question: a deep, clear pool where the Riuwaka River emerges from the depths of the Tākaka Hill. I don’t know if it’s disrespectful, but it’s a popular spot for people to go for a plunge. There were four lads there who eventually psyched themselves up to take the plunge.

None of them was prepared to admit that it was fucking freezing in there, but one chap did say that it was quite fresh. Jane took a fabulous shot of one of them going in.

Obviously a talented chap who could walk on water….

Bill and Eve dropped us back at our accommodation and we said our goodbyes. It had been a lovely day; great to meet them again after many years, wonderful to find that we still got on so well after such a long time, and very enjoyable activities, too.

We are at the Abel Tasman lodge for one more day before we chase off further south. It’s a pleasant place

with comfortable chalets and well-organised facilities (such as a guest laundry; well, these things are important, you know). In the grassy area to the back of our chalet we were able to see some passing wildlife: swamp hens

with their enormous feet;

a juvenile blackbird;

and a covey of around 20 California quails,

doing their usual scavenging bit and completely ignoring a passing cat

who was content to ignore them right back.

 

There being no scheduled items on our itinerary for tomorrow, Jane has been busy working out engaging ways to pass the time, and I’ll tell all in tomorrow’s page.