Abel Tasman National Park - the most beautiful place you've never heard of

Let me just start this by saying that Abel Tasman Nat'l Park is the most beautiful place you've never heard of. No really - it is. More on this later. First we have to fill you in on the wierdest place we've stayed since we've been here. It's called the Pujis Well-ness Retreat in Nelson, NZ, and as far as we can tell, it's just two people who have a large house and charge a boatload of money for you to stay in one of their closet sized rooms. Now it is nice, and it fronts an absolutely lovely little creek. And there is a hot tub, and a sauna. There is also continual burning of incense, a colon-crunching diet of nuts, berries and other foods likely procured from the neighboring forest. The home is well-furnished, with a nice yard and a lot of picturesque views of the creek and the Maitai valley, where it resides. I guess we had a little something different in mind when we were thinking "wellness retreat." Like I previously stated, it's pretty much someone's house, where you can stay for an exorbitant fee, while retaining the option to shell out additional hundreds of dollars for a hip-hop yoga class or pay (yes, pay) to starve yourself on a diet of nuts, berries and various fruit juices.

Now back to the good stuff about the area. Nelson is a great town. Right on the water, lots of character, and like all the other New Zealand towns, it's chock full of great little cafes, stores, and restaurants. As for Abel Tasman, it's nestled along the northern coast of the south island, where the 18 foot tides create massive tidal flats, wetlands and beautiful coves and bays throughout. The park is home to the nesting grounds of seals, but it is also a great reserve for coastal areas and native forest. We took a boat to the western end of the park and hiked the scenic Tasman coastal track, hugging the coast for 4 hours back to the Torrent Bay Village. The village is a cluster of homes accessible only by water that pre-date the national park. It reminded me a lot of Dog Island, albeit with markedly different landscape. I can't describe how beautiful the hike was - there where so many "whoa! look at that!" moments, and you'll just have to see our pictures when we post them to believe it.