making thailand jealous

Next stop after Kaikoura was Nelson, NZ on the north coast of the South Island. On the way there we stopped at a baby seal colony where there were 60 pups that came out of the water to see what we are and smell us just like a dog would. It was unbelievable to see this tiny seal pups pop out all because of us, they were very interested in us. We probably blinded them with our flashes but I got some priceless photos of them. They were simply adorable and made me miss Simba a bit. Watching them "walk" out of the water on slippery rocks with their fins was beyond adorable and having them sniff you was even better.

From there we headed up to wine country for some free samples at a local winery before getting to our final destination of Nelson. Nelson is the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park, the most popular NP in New Zealand. It is a coastal park and is filled with hundreds of bays, coves, and dense forest. One of the 9 "great walks" of New Zealand is here, the Abel Tasman Track, and I decided to walk its length (40 miles) on a 4 day trip. It was great to be out hiking again, slightly more annoying than Nepal because you had to carry your food, but the scenery was very diverse and all of it was breathtaking. You would climb from empty, beautiful golden beaches with crystal clear tropical waters through various layers of the forest that changed with the elevation. Around every corner was a new island/bay/overlook that took your breath away. The weather was perfect the entire walk, no clouds what so ever and the sunrises and sunsets were out of this world.

The only thing that I could think when I was sitting on the golden sands overlooking a pristine cove filled with seals and dolphins was that Thailand would be jealous of this place. Virtually untouched beaches and estuaries with limestone rocks, tunnels, and forests surrounding the coast. I met up with a few American students studying abroad for the semseter in Dunedin to do the track with and had a great time all around. Learned about a few of the constellations in the southern hemisphere and got to meet up with a trekking club there that told me about all sorts of great walks on the west coast.