Punakaiki and Motueka

We drove from Copland Track to Punakaiki, a small town on the West Coast. There isn't much to do in Punakaiki besides see the famous Pancake Rocks, but it was a good stopping point for us between the Copland Track and our next hike, the Abel Tasman. We were really glad we stayed here because we loved the little lodge that we stayed in. The place was really quaint and cozy with a very well equipped kitchen, and we met some nice people there. We made a feast of soup, homemade pizzas (our favorite post hike meal), salad, and brownies for dessert! The next morning was our anniversary, although not officially celebrating for another 4 days, so I made us a big breakfast the next morning. I definitely took advantage of a nice kitchen where I didn't have to share it with 15 other people trying to cook at the same time! This lodge also makes homemade warm wheat bread and muffins every morning. Yum! We took our time lingering here in the morning because we didn't have too far of a drive or much of an agenda besides getting to Motueka and booking our Abel Tasman hike.

We made the 4 hour drive to Motueka easily and went directly to the information center to make our hiking trip arrangements. We wanted to book our trip no more than one day in advance to be sure about the weather because it could have easily changed our plans. Thankfully, the forecast was perfect, and we were able to book tent camping sites rather than stay in the huts. Daniel and I love the huts, but on Abel Tasman, the huts were not in ideal locations for where we wanted to go each day and in what direction. You can either take a boat to your starting point and hike back to your car, or hike from where you leave your car and then get picked up by boat at the end. Your choice depends on preference and the tidal pattern of the day. Yes, Abel Tasman requires you to pass through places only accessible during low tide. Low tide times change daily so it took careful planning for how far we wanted to hike each day and what times we crossed the tidal sections. After we made our final plans, we went to our hostel. Here we had a nice meal. We cooked lamb for the first time! Then, we packed our backpacks in preparation for our last backpacking trip in NZ!

Pancake Rocks

Westland, New Zealand at Sunset