New Zealand
South Island
- Nelson, Marlborough Wine Region, Abel Tasman National Park and Farewell Spit
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| Marlborough Wine Region |
We took the InterIslander Car Ferry from Wellington on the North Island to Picton on the South Island and arrived in the Marlborough Sounds. According to Newzealand.com, the Marlborough Sounds is a collection of sunken river valleys that have filled with water from the Pacific Ocean.
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| Sailing through Marlborough Sounds with a smaller ferry heading back to Wellington |
There is a very undulating coastline and a few islands creating innumerable bays and beaches. Within this area there are three sounds: Queen Charlotte, Kenepuru, and Pelorus and a total of over 1500 kilometers of coastline. As with many regions in New Zealand, several of the Islands in the Marlborough sounds are predator free sanctuaries for the native wildlife.
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| Sailing through the Marlborough Sounds on the Ferry |
After arriving in Picton, we drove west along the Queen Charlotte Drive toward Nelson. This was so absolutely beautiful with all the different bays and beaches, most of which were absolutely empty.
Along the Queen Charlotte drive, there were small towns or just collections of houses and cottages peppered along the coastline.
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| Not a bad place to anchor and just soak up the sun floating in such a peaceful bay |
Riuwaka Resurgence
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| Water from the Riuwaka River flowing out of the mouth of a cave |
Tākaka hill is composed of soft marble and has many caves. Riuwaka resurgence is a beautiful area where the Riuwaka River flows out of a cave at the base of Tākaka Hill.
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| Small waterfall flowing between moss covered rocks |
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| Water from the Riuwaka River flowing out of the mouth of a cave forming a small pool |
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| Waterfall amid moss covered rocks |
Here the Riuwaka river flows out of the mouth of a cave over a rocky terrain surrounded by trees many with moss growing on the trunk and branches and hanging down toward the ground.
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| Swamp Harrier flying overhead |
Marlborough Wine region
This is a region of New Zealand's South Island that is south of Nelson and Marlborough Sounds, where traditional crops grew poorly and much of the land was used for grazing of sheep and cows.
The area of New Zealand near Blenheim and Renwick in the Wairau Valley gets abundant sunshine with very little rain and traditional crops found it difficult to grow in this rocky well drained soil. That is until the 1970s when Sauvignon Blanc grapes were planted in this region.
The Marlborough wine region with their Sauvignon Blanc wines burst onto the international wine scene. Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Aromatic wines such as Pinot Gris, Riesling and Gewurztraminer are the leading wines produced in this region. They also produce Chardonnay, but in lesser quantities.
The wineries in this region are located within close proximity and a few outfitters offer bicycle rentals for people to travel between them while visiting the Cellar Doors for these establishments. We decided to hire bikes and do just that. We spent our time at several wineries that are shown below. This was a unique way to visit and try wines from a variety of wineries, most of which were small family owned.
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| Framingham |
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| Forrest |
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Whitehaven
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| Huia |
We visited Framingham, Forrest, Whitehaven and Huia during our day with bikes. By far our favorites were Framingham and Forrest. We bought several bottles of wine from Framingham and Forrest to enjoy while we are visiting New Zealand. Framingham wines can be purchased from the wine collective in the US, unfortunately several Forrest wines available in New Zealand cannot be sold in the US due to trademark laws. For us, we typically like sweeter aromatics, but we liked the Sauvignon Blanc wines here which is not typical for us. The Reisling and Pino Gris were amazing and we bought several!!
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| Bladen |
We also stopped a second day to visit Bladen Winery which is a family owned business and we truly enjoyed our tasting and visit here. We had a glass of our favorite wine and a meat and cheese plate and spent a couple of hours enjoying our wine and the beautiful view.
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| What a view! |
There are other areas of New Zealand that produce wines including areas in both the North and South Islands, but this is the region that we visited and enjoyed.
Nelson Lakes National Park
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| Kerr Bay, Lake Rotoiti and Nelson Lakes National Park |
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| Kerr Bay, Lake Rotoiti and Nelson Lakes National Park |
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| Kerr Bay, Lake Rotoiti and Nelson Lakes National Park |
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| Bellbird on Bellbird Trail |
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| Bellbird Trail, Nelson Lakes National Park |
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Bellbird Trail, Nelson Lakes National Park
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| Sunset from our apartment in Redwood Valley, NZ |
Farewell Spit Nature Preserve and Bird Sanctuary
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| Cape Farewell Arch |
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| Our Ride for the tour of Farewell Spit |
Cape Farewell and Farewell Spit National Preserve and Bird Sanctuary is located on the far northwest of the South Island. This is a National Preserve where people can visit only the first 4 km of the spit. If you would like to go to the tip of the spit and visit the Farewell Spit Lighthouse, you will need to take a tour as this area is restricted. Farewell Spit is a sand bar and sand dune that stretches out into Golden Bay and can only be reached at low tide with special vehicles. Even then our guide joked that he gets stuck often while taking out tour groups.
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| Farewell Spit Lighthouse |
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Cape Farewell Lighthouse
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The lighthouse is no longer manned as it is now operated remotely. It was manned until the 1980s. It is a very isolated and remote location.
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| Unique patterns in the sand |
The center of the spit has low sand dunes with unique patterns in the sand due to the strong winds blowing from the Pacific Ocean.
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| Unique patterns in the sand |
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| Pied Stilt |
As this is a bird sanctuary, there are many birds that we saw during our visit. There is a large gannet colony on the spit. We did not visit the colony, but saw many flying and hunting in the distance. But we did see may Stilts, Terns, Turnstones and Shags.
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| Caspian tern |
We also saw juvenile male New Zealand Fur Seals lounging on the sand and posing for us.
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| New Zealand Fur Seal |
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| Sun setting on the Cape Farewell Arch |
On the day that we visited, the low tide was around 6pm, so we got to see the spit as the sun was setting.
Abel Tasman National Park
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| Split Apple Rock |
Abel Tasman National Park sits along the shores of Tasman Bay on the north coast of the South Island. There are no cars or roads in the national park, so you either need to hike in or take a boat to get into the park. You could walk the entire park, but it would take you several days to do so. There are a few lodges and camping areas if you are brave enough to hike the entire park, but plan ahead as this is a very popular hike. The other option is to take a water taxi to the start of many trails and then walk out or walk to another water taxi pickup site.
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| Split Apple Rock |
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| View on trail from Torrent Bay to Anchorage Bay |
Other options include taking guided hiking and kayaking tours, which is what we did. We signed up for a guided kayak trip and a short self-guided hike from Torrent Bay to Anchorage Beach. A fun time was had by all! The hike was very pretty, but we were stupid and did not bring our hiking shoes, so we did it in our flip flops (NOT SMART). It was only a little over 2 miles, but generally not a good idea to hike in flip flops 😂. John survived with no issues and I just got a small blister on my big toe, but I would not recommend hiking in flip flops.
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| Cleopatra's Pool |
On the short hike we took there was a short detour to visit Cleopatra's Pool that John took and said was pretty. There was also a very new suspension bridge just at the Cleopatra's Pool split that was cool. The previous bridge was taken out by a rock slide.
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| Cleopatra's Pool |
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| Cleopatra's Pool |
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| Anchorage Beach |
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| Anchorage Bay |
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| Anchorage Bay |
We also decided to spend a second day in Abel Tasman NP with a tour operator called Abel Tasman Charters. We were on a catamaran style boat with a few other passengers and were able to go all the way up to Tonga Island to see some more Fur Seals and birds along the way.
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| NZ Fur seal mama with nursing pup |
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| NZ fur seal |
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| NZ fur seal |
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| Variable Oyster Catchers (Juvenile in back being fed by parent) |
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| Variable Oyster Catcher |
At one of the beaches we stopped at, John got off the boat and walked to a small estuary off the side of the beach and came upon a shag hunting for and catching a yellow-eyed mullet.
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| Pied Shag eating a Yellow-eyed Mullet |
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| Pied Shag eating a Yellow-eyed Mullet |
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| Pied Shag |
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| Pied Shag |
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| Black-backed Gulls adult (top) and juvenile (bottom) |
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| Abel Tasman Charters |
This was the boat we were on for the day on the water with Abel Tasman Charters. The captains Brett and Kim were awesome! We would highly recommend this tour. It was a bit expensive, but worth every penny.
John went ashore with his camera, while I enjoyed a glass of wine and the view! It was the perfect way to enjoy our last day in this region.
Things in the Nelson/Abel Tasman area that we enjoyed and would do again:
1. The all day cruise with Abel Tasman Charters!!
2. The bicycle winery tours. We would highly recommend Framingham, Forrest and Bladen Wineries!!
3. Kayak Able Tasman NP
Additional Costs (in NZD):Explore Marlborough Half-day Guided winery tour and full day bike rental - $170pp
Wine tasting at Bladen Winery - $20pp
Farewell Spit Tour - $195pp
Wilsons Kayak and Hike Abel Tasman NP - $250pp
Abel Tasman Charters All Day cruise of Abel Tasman NP - $355pp
Coming soon...
South Island West Coast
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