Marlborough and Abel Tasman

The next morning we had about a 2+ hour drive and so we woke up around 6 to make sure we made it to a Church of Christ in Richmond. On the way there we were going to take the scenic route through the Marlborough Sounds (we think a 'sound' refers to a big huge valley that is filled with ocean water, because 'sounds' are all over the south island) on the Queen Charlotte Scenic Track. As we drove through the sounds stopping to take in the scenery, the sun began to rise and we weren't at a point where we could stop and see it. So i stepped on the gas and we cruised around sharp curves around cliffs and cruised around quick to catch the sunrise. That was until we came around an inside corner and our van almost spun out cause the pavement was still a bit wet from some rain. This was the 2nd time Milessa was almost in shock (Kate was the first) this trip, and not the last! Luckily I managed to keep control of the van as we drifted around this corner (just like in Need for Speed) and kept going. Milessa was almost in tears for a couple seconds, and while I was pretty scared too we pulled over at the next look out & managed to laugh it off agreeing to slow down after that.

We made it alive and very awake to the Church of Christ in Richmond an hour early around the same time as the preacher who let us in to use their kitchen to make our oatmeal! They also had coffee- with milk and sugar! During the service they announced that visitors from Canada were there and that we had left at 630 am to make it to church to which the church replied with a round of applause and- literally- several oohs and ahhs of excitement! It was such a nice greeting to us & felt like it was out of a movie. The church was extremely friendly and we were able to talk to many of the church members. One of them, an older gentleman Ross Hayward, invited us over to his house for lunch which was awesome because Easter with a brother in Christ is way better than by ourselves! Ross warmed up some wonderful minestrone soup and we had a wonderful visit for a couple of hours about New Zealand, Ross's hometown, churches in NZ, and many other things. Ross used to preacher but is retired now so he travels around preaching in the area whenever he is needed. We felt so at home and Ross was such a great host, it made our Easter Sunday very special.

After that we made our way north to Motueka which brought us closer to Abel Tasman National Park, which was apparently one of the most beautiful parks in NZ. We went to the i-Site there to plan our south island trip and book some ocean kayaking for the next morning. After that, we found a Church of Christ in Motueka and thought visiting them during the evening service might be nice. So we parked in their lot an hour before it should have started and began cooking pasta. And eggs. Together in the same pot of water. Bet you've never done that before.

Partway through meal prep, a car drove up and a lady got out, who we found out was Sue, a member of the church. She told us there was no service that evening and we visited for a few minutes. We then asked if she knew anyone in the church who might be willing to let us sleep in our van in their driveway overnight since the only campground that we were interested in was a ways off of our route. Without hesitation, she told us we could simply stay in her house! Though we insisted that wasn't necessary, she was very willing to allow us in her home and even gave up her bed for us while she slept in the spare bedroom! So we followed her home, and because we had extra pasta and eggs, she shared our meal with us, offering us some ice cream and fruit sauce for dessert & tea after. For several hours we visited with Sue who was such a wonderful host to us. We really can't describe how sweet and caring this lady was to us, complete strangers.

The next morning Sue was up to greet us, giving us a bag of apples on our way, which was especially refreshing after PB sandwiches for half of our meals! After saying goodbye, we made our way to the  kayak rental (Kahu Kayaks) north of Motueka. While Milessa was leery of kayaking in the ocean at first, she quickly became comfortable. We had about 3 hours of kayaking and then a 3-4 hour hike afterwards back to Kahu Kayaks. It was a beautiful sunny day and kayaking went quite easy. We stopped at multiple beaches (one you could get to only by kayak or boat, the other ones the path led to as well) and a couple caves which we climbed into. The one cave in particular went right through to a small hole on the other side- Milessa was afraid to go into that one. We then kayaked across a small straight of water to a little island where we were able to see a bunch of seals lying around on rocks and swimming in the water. They were super cute and so much fun to watch for quite a while, especially since they were in the wild in their natural habitat rather than a zoo. The final leg of our kayak was through some pretty heavy wind and waves which made it all the more eventful. Finally we made it to our destination and dropped the kayak off and began our 12 km hike through Abel Tasman National Park back to Kahu Kayaks.

Seals!

After our long hike back, we visited with a young German couple for around an hour. They had left at the same time as us (as well as a bunch of other travellers who we visited with beforehand) and had a lot of fun talking about the kayak and hike trip together. Before heading to our next ccampground, we made sure to stop and get some on-sale Easter chocolate to make us feel warmer and generally better. Which turned out to be a good idea because we drove around forever trying to find McLean's campground in the dark. It turned out that our trusty little iPhone campground finder app wasn't always correct and we drove up and down this little hi-way several times before finally finding the McLean's campground after 9 pm. Have I mentioned how many U-turns I've done on this trip? Dad you would be so proud of the stuff I've pulled!

The next day we really took it easy as Milessa's knees were sore once again (from Tongariro and then Abel Tasman). We drove along the Buller Gorge which had some incredible scenery of a river gorge that had bits and pieces of clouds all over the mountains/hills (clouds seem to get confused in mountains and hang in weird spots and valleys). At the Buller Gorge, we stopped at a huge swinging bridge with many trails around nearing sundown. It was pretty high off of the water and Milessa was just a bit afraid, to say the least. It was on these trails I got some of my first experience piggy-backing Milessa (sometimes on my back, sometimes on top of my shoulders) and that made for quite the workout going up and down hills! We also had to say no to a really fun looking zip-line across the river gorge knowing that we would probably have the opportunity to do that somewhere else either in NZ or another country.

We then left the Buller Gorge swinging bridge and headed to find out next free campsite, hoping to find one called Nelson River Reserve on a riverside. Once again we found out that our that our iPhone app wasn't always correct, after 9 pm when it was totally dark outside. We turned into what ended up being some farmers fields. And as we drove out of the field, just to really make us feel stupid, we saw a rather rude street road name. You can see in the picture below- the one that says "Try Again Rd" is the one I'm talking about. It was placed right at this corner and really could not have been more honest if it tried. So we tried again (though not down that same road) and eventually found our way to Nelson River Reserve thanks to Milessa's incredible mapping abilities, albeit late and in the dark :)

Trust Justin to find caves to climb in

Reminded us of Anne of Green Gables Mom G!

Buller River