Touring the 'Top of the South'

My mom and Rich just left today after a delightful week of visiting.  We took them to see the "Top of the South,"  a nickname for the northern part of the south island, which was also a new place for us.  The first stop was the Abel Tasman National Park.  It is one of the most visited parks in NZ known for lush greenery that hugs golden beaches leading out to azure bays.

Without time to do the entire Great Walk we took a water taxi out to the coast in the middle of the park.   The view of the coastline from the boat deck showed granite rocks stacked between bush-covered hills and aquamarine water: a delicious national park sandwich.  From the boat we were also able to see fur seal pups wrestling in shallow water.  Adorable!

   The taxi plunked us down on one of the rusty granite beaches and there we began our four hour hike to Anchorage Bay.  Along the way we saw an Alice in Wonderland mushroom (sans singing caterpillar), heard dozens of bird calls, and tramped under the shade of the towering tree ferns.  

Also of note was the swinging bridge that lead us over an emerald green river.  No tramp in Abel Tasman is complete without a swim in the sea so we finished out trek playing in the waves not unlike the seal pups we had seen earlier.  But, this beautiful rose also had its thorn... in the form of sand flies. Despite their tiny size they have quite a big stinging bite that is followed by red swollen welts and insatiable itching.  

When camping in the Sierras I have often wondered what purpose could the cursed mosquitoes serve in the grand scheme of the universe.  Well, Maori legend has it that the dreaded sand fly does serve a purpose - and that is to protect the beautiful scenery of NZ.  According to our driver, a goddess enlisted these pesky flies to keep humans from overtaking the natural wonders.  In other words, she invited us to come visit but not stay too long and the sand flies are helping to execute her wishes.  

Continuing on our road trip we headed east to the Marlborough region.  My mom Lori, queen of the small world, tracked down an elementary school friend from LA who now lives near Picton.  We stopped off to see her house perched on a hill overlooking the sounds and scooped her/her husband up to come wine tasting with us.  

What a better way to experience the world-famous wine region than on bikes!  We weaved our way through vineyards ripe with hanging fruit -it is almost fall after all- and hit up a few wineries to taste their delicious savignon blancs, rieslings, and pinot noirs.  Sometimes we couldn't wait for the wine and just had a snack straight from the vine (only kidding).  

On the last day we couldn't help but to try a few more wineries before heading back to Christchurch, this time down the east coast.  Along the way we stopped to see more fur seals, a waterfall, and have lunch with a Kiwi friend at a seafood BBQ in Kaikoura.  All in all it was a magnificent long weekend.  Marshall and I consider ourselves so lucky to have these precious visitors who braved more hours on the plane than sand fly bites we can count on our ankles.  And that's a lot - thanks for coming, Mom & Rich!