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Wildlife and Wilderness continued
Abel Tasman
Whale tail, Kaikoura
Days 10 and 11
Abel Tasman NP
deep water that cut into the continental shelf. There's also the option of swimming with seals and dolphins. Kaikoura is a great place to eat crayfish, too (in the Maori language kai means food, koura means crayfish). As well as both whale watch cruises (£57 for a 2hr 30min trip) and dolphin encounters, where you swim in their company (£69, for around 3hrs, with wetsuits, mask and snorkel provided), we can arrange half-day Maori tours. These include a guided bush walk, looking at the medicinal properties of native trees and shrubs, and afternoon tea at the home of a local family (£43). Night-times are special, too - you'll sleep in one of the stunning new treehouses at Hapuku Lodge - with views across the olive groves to the sea.
properties offer a programme of prebookable guided walks, as well as canoeing and trout fishing, or you can take off on your own with just a map of the footpaths and a picnic.
You could choose to take the ferry across the Cook Strait, but to save time we suggest flying from Wellington to Nelson, where you'll transfer to a breathtaking scenic flight to Awaroa Lodge in the heart of the Abel Tasman National Park (with no road access!). Imagine the perfect beach, where a dense natural garden meets the most golden of sands, which, in turn, meet the calmest, most opal of seas, protected from the prevailing west winds by granite highlands and headlands, with no roads and barely a building to detract from the scene . . . you're looking at the Abel Tasman, yours to explore by boat, sea kayak or on foot.
Day 16
Franz Joseph
Turning west towards the ocean, the `oohs' and `aahs' of scenic pleasure continue as you experience a magnificent mix of coastal and Alpine scenery. The roaring Pacific surf and wild beaches littered with kelp and giant arthritic claws of bone-coloured driftwood are on your right and, to the left, the immensity of 6,000ft snow-capped peaks. No place in Europe celebrates such an intimate marriage of mountains and sea. You spend the night in the new Franz Joseph Glacier Retreat, set in 200 acres of tranquil farmland, with all 12 rooms having views of either snow-capped peaks or Lake Mapourika, each one themed after a local pioneer family. Before continuing south, you'll have time to take an optional 50min flight along the Alpine peaks, including Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand, and over glacial lakes, the famous Tasman glacier and rainforests (£121); or indulge in a helihike, walking among spectacular ice formations, crampons included (£156).
Days 12 and 13
Kaikoura
Days 14 and 15
Fly back to Nelson and collect your hire car for your drive to Kaikoura, perhaps stopping for lunch at a Marlborough winery en route. The old whaling town of Kaikoura has made a complete U-turn, relinquishing its once lucrative harpooning business in favour of whale watching. Regular boat trips take visitors to see sperm whales that not only thrive in the smorgasbord of food found in the rich mingling currents off the Kaikoura peninsula, but also come close inshore along digits of
Arthur's Pass
One of the highest settlements in the country, Arthur's Pass sits in the middle of a national parkland and is a popular base for walkers, from gentle strollers to intrepid climbers. Accommodation is at Arthur's Pass Wilderness Lodge, owned by ecologists Dr Gerry McSweeney and Anne Saunders. Alternatively, you could, for a supplement of £244 (for 2 nights), treat yourself to superb country comfort at Grasmere lodge (see page 53). Both
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