It stopped raining overnight, so Mark and I walked into Nelson in the morning and grabbed some crepes and cappuccino for breakfast. I took a few minutes to write a postcard to my mom, too. After a quick stop at the post office to send the postcard, we checked out a couple other stores (Mark bought a new winter coat and I bought a new backpack...oops), then stopped at the grocery store to grab some lunch. Time for some more adventuring!
We hopped in the car and headed west. After a while we started to see blue sky...I had almost forgotten what it looked like after yesterday's monsoon.
We stopped to check out a small marina along the way...
...then found a bench with a scenic view at Liger Bay. We ate our lunch and took some time to wander along the beach, then hopped back in the car to head toward Abel Tasman National Park.
To call this road winding and narrow would be a gross understatement. It was gravel and probably about 10 miles long...it's a wonder our oh-so-awesome crap car didn't shake itself apart!
It was totally worth the drive, though. We decided to spend a couple hours hiking. The view from this path is a little different than what we're used to back in VA. :)
At one point the trail dumps you out onto the beach at Goat Bay. I can't pass up the chance to climb on some rocks!
The beach was covered in all sorts of neat shells; I actually found a sand dollar.
Our first encounter with what we'd later learn are oystercatchers. Mark called them beach kiwis and the name stuck for the rest of the trip. They're not actually kiwis (though I'm sure Mark will disagree).
After hiking back to the car and snaking our way back along the gravel road, we started working our way back to Nelson. We found a decent restaurant in Kaiteriteri that had a really nice beach view from the deck.
The map showed a scenic drive along Ruby Bay, so we stopped for a couple minutes...
...then drove back to Nelson to catch the sunset at Tahunanui Beach. The clouds looked really cool. :)
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