Abel Tasman and the Perfect Dinner

sulianet
Jan 26, 2015
2 min read

This morning I said goodbye to Annie’s Nirvana Hostel and headed over to Kaiteriteri for a day in Abel Tasman National Park. Since I don’t have enough time for the full Abel Tasman Coast Track, I have to be happy with just kayaking and walking a small section of the park.

Our kayak tour with Heather was lovely, it was an easy tour and much shorter than the one in Milford Sound. I decided to hire Wilson’s Kayaks because they included a boat ride around the east coast of Abel Tasman and then would drop me off for 2 hours so that I could walk around the park.

We kayaked from Kaiteriteri to the Split Apple Rock and went for a swim in that bay. The water was cold but the girls on the tour convinced me that if I had made it all the way there, I had to jump in. I slowly walked into the water, but it was not as cold as in the Farewell Split section of the island.

I eventually got on their boat and got off at Anchorage point and walked for about an hour and a half the Pitt Head loop to Te Pukatea beach. The hour and a half walk I did was cicada battlefield and a few of them hit me on the face. I got to see cicadas up close and personal like never before. Those loud creatures made the trail strangely musical. After my walk and Battle of the Cicadas, I took a nap on the beach before the boat came back for me. Te Pukatea beach was beautiful!

This feels like another lazy day. I was seriously hoping the kayak trip was longer and thought we were kayaking the northeastern side of Abel Tasman, next time I come back to hike the Abel Tasman Coast Track I will take a different kayaking tour…

So a lazy day had to finish well! After Kaiteriteri I drove to Nelson, where I will spend the night. At Nelson I decided I would have a fancy dinner so I went to a restaurant called Hopgood’s where I ate the most delicious meal I’ve had in New Zealand and it made it to my list of favorite restaurants in the world – which includes Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles. Hopgood’s has won multiple awards for hospitality, outstanding chef (I know why!), and the best restaurant in Nelson. If you are ever in the region don’t miss out on Hopgood’s!

For appetizer I had a roasted tomato arancini! The main course was a double cooked pork belly with a ginger sauce of some kind, radishes, and just total deliciousness! The pork belly fat was so well balanced with the veggies that I could not get enough. I drank a delicious red wine – that paired perfectly well with the pork belly dish. It was a Syrah from the Hawkes Bay, Craggy Range (Gimblett Gravels 2011/2012). For dessert I had a dark chocolate truffle and a 20-year-old tawny port. That’s what I call a perfect dinner!