We took an early bus from a dreadful company that is indirectly responsible for severely damaging one of my cameras, after leaving at 07:30, we arrived just after 09:00 to connect to a Wilsons boat that took deep inside Abel Tasman to our kayaking point (it's a 5 day backpacking trip from end to end):

cool rock

about 1h later, we arrived to our beach

We got to see seals and sea lions

Baby!

so cute :)

oyster catcher

a mixed couple, I'm told it's rare

low tide, this all get covered

beautiful insect, we called it 'clack clack' for the noise it makes

stingray

Thanks to a very nice british couple that was part of our group, we were able to stay 2H longer, enjoy extra beach hiking time, and get back to Nelson 2h later thanks to them giving us a ride (the bus leaves early for no good reason). Abel Tasman was beautiful, we really loved it