To the bach Abel Tasman

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After breakfast Charlotte's brother gave us a tour of the apple packing shed. It is mechanised but they still provide a lot of employment (mostly to itinerant foreigners). He presented us with an enormous carrier bag of apples when we finished. Richard and Joyanne have offered us the use of their; bach’ which is a simple holiday home in the Abel Tasman national park. The generosity of Kiwi's is incredible. We headed off to he bach, which is accessible only by boat. We parked the car a xxxx and caught a water taxi to Torrent Bay (stopping on route to view the Split apple rock). The scenery is outstanding - lush mountains and sandy bays with incredibly clear water. The weather was kind again - sunny and warm. The taxi dropped our rucksacks and us on the remote beach and we climbed to the bach, which is set on a steep hillside. The setting is simply idyllic with unbelievable views out over the bay.- we had to pinch ourselves to believe we were staying here (and for free). The bach has no electricity so we relied on gas bottles for cooking and gas lamps for cooking. There is a log fire. The bach is simple but romantic. As I sat on the deck which projects out over the hillside I suddenly realised that the black shape with long wispy tail I could see moving in the clear water in the bay below must be a ray. Amazing. As night fell and we lit the gas lamps and the log fire we became aware of our isolation from the normal world. This was more so when the batteries in the radio died after just twenty minutes. I was good to be totally cut off from the world in our own little temporary home.

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Photos

Taxi drop off
We were dropped off on the beach by the bach with our rucksacks and supplies

Split apple rock
The water taxi stopped passed by to let us get a photo

Jen on water taxi
Lifejacket obligatory

View from the deck of the bach
Our view out over Torrent Bay for the next few days