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Our final few days on the South Island of New Zealand brought a lot of driving. We started our day off in Motueka a little slower. We needed to catch up on some laundry now that we had almost hit the two-week mark. Luckily, Eden’s Edge had laundry facilities.
We used eggs donated by the hostels hens to make French toast for breakfast (which may or may not have made a bunch of smoke in the kitchen) and packed up. After that, we set out to find the Riuwaka Resurgence. The owner of Eden’s Edge had recommended it to us.
Riuwaka Resurgence
It’s an easy fifteen minute hike along the lower parts of the river. There are spots with little cascades and waterfalls.
The trail winds up river along the bank. It’s very tropical looking, like the rest of New Zealand.
There are stairs that lead down to the main attraction, the Resurgence.
Up river, the Riuwaka River finds its way into crevasses and drains into the earth and disappears from the surface. The resurgence is the location that the River reemerges from a cave.
All that ground water bubbles out at the Riuwaka Resurgence and continues on the surface downstream.
It’s an interesting sight peering into a dark cave filled with water.
Abel Tasman National Park
After seeing the resurgence, we took off in the opposite direction towards Abel Tasman National Park. Our main goal was to find Split Apple Rock. We checked our GPS and it led us to a parking lot at the top of a cliff. There were stairs leading down. They felt steep and unending, but we finally reached a secluded beach in a cove.
And there, in the middle of the cove, was a smooth, round rock cracked in half.
The cove was only accessible by boat or hiking down. We chose to hike down and didn’t see another person for quite some time. We had the beach to ourselves (aside from the occasional kayaker just off shore).
The problem with hiking down a million steps (maybe an exaggeration on the number) is that you have to then hike back up them.
Picton
Our destination for the end of the day, and our stopover point, was the town of Picton. We had been warned about the road over to Picton. Locals told us that the mountainous routes could be narrow and winding. They weren’t kidding. The road to Picton was one of the slowest of the trip. There were many sections that narrowed to a single lane and blind around a corner. We took it slow but eventually came over the top to see Picton.
Picton is a small port town on the north side of the South Island. It’s also one of the places you can catch a ferry from the South Island to the North Island. We had our ferry ride booked for the next morning. We would be traveling from Picton to Wellington. On to the Weta Workshop and Hobbiton!