Having finally recovered from the flu, we rejoined the Kiwi Bus and headed for a place called Kaiteriteri. For those of you who have never been, it’s a very pretty but very small place to be without your own vehicle.
There was quite literally one hostel, one corner shop, and one restaurant. Ok to be fair you could also get food from the place which joined onto the back of the hostel, but what can I say, I was desperate to avoid hostels by this point.
I won’t lie, I am certainly no expert on this little slice of the world, as we were saving our penny’s for the weeks to come – a running theme throughout my posts – however I do know that Kaiteriteri is one of the best places to catch a water taxi over to Abel Tasman National Park, the smallest (but no less beautiful) National Park in New Zealand.
We would love to have explored this National Park, but the water taxi rates weren’t exactly cheap! Plus, I think it’s fair to say that I would never have survived kayaking myself over there.
So, lack of water skills aside, we explored Kaiteriteri on foot. We opted for the short and sweet Stephen’s Bay route, which will take you to the edge of Kaiteriteri, up to the viewpoint, and over to Little Kaiteriteri.
The whole place is truly picturesque, and I would highly recommend this stroll. You could easily complete the journey in around 20 minutes, but I guarantee you’ll get distracted and meander around for longer.
Honestly, we were in no rush so we really took our time to relax and enjoy it here. We ambled along veeeeery slowly, then made it back to the main town in time for sunset and vino almost like we planned it.
Our favourite spot was to perch ourselves in the Shoreline, a Beach Bar/Restaurant slap bang in the centre of town – if you can call it a town. They dish up some pretty good brunch and the decor is darling! I’m pretty sure we also had dinner here though I can’t actually remember it so don’t hold me to that!
On our penultimate day, we met up with some old family friends of Mike’s, who very kindly introduced us to the World of Wearable Art Museum.
The National WOW Museum can be found in Nelson and showcases finalist looks from past competitions, celebrating creativity and innovation as the two are fused to portray truly unique works of wearable art. And if that doesn’t take your fancy, the Museum also showcases an impressive collection of vintage cars.
Why are these two exhibits are positioned within the same Museum? I’m not quite sure, but somehow, it works.
All in all, we loved our stint in and around Kaiteriteri. My only regret is that we were unable to delve into the National Park.
If you have ever explored Abel Tasman, I would love to hear your stories and whether you thought it was worth the jaunt! Let me know in the comments below 🙂
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