After visiting New Zealand’s three major cities, we rented a car and started a six-day tour of the rural areas of the South Island. We started along the east coast, visiting Kaikoura and staying in Blenheim the first night.

The second day we drove north to Picton and then west along the scenic Queen Charlotte Drive. We spent two nights in Nelson, which sits at the bottom of Tasman bay and is the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park.

On our third day we drove out to Golden Bay hoping for a swim, but the weather failed to cooperate. We did do a short hike into Abel Tasman park on the rainy day and we got to walk along the beach during low tide.

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