This area of the South Island is paradise if you like the outdoors (both activities and incredible vistas). The mountains drop right into the sea and on occasion there will be a small beach or huge rocks. I never knew there so many different types of beach sand. Really interesting!
A hiking trail in Tasman National Park follows the coast for over 60 miles and includes huts for backpackers and kayakers to reserve for overnights. We stayed in a small cabin in Abel Tasman Rainforest for 3 nights and rented bikes one day to explore.
The coastline is all bays and sounds, very irregular, so driving along the coast means lots of tight curves for miles and miles. We rented bikes and rode on the beautiful bike path that starts in the big city of Nelson and goes up the coast through lots if small towns. All the trails are very well maintained with few people. Even with all the tourists we could never call any place crowded.
New Zealand's south island is sparsely populated and very rural. Surprisingly they are big into the dairy industry, shipping dried milk to China and they raise beef cattle too. We saw as many cows as sheep (we grilled steaks twice and they were delicious!) as well as hundreds of orchards and vineyards. Pine trees have been planted on thousands of mountain sides and logging is another big industry.
Giant eels are only found in New Zealand and they are carnivores! You could buy raw meat pieces to feed these big guys. I counted 25 of them and they scared me! We stopped on the bike ride to see them and later stopped to visit with these curious llamas.
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