30 degrees, sunny
We left the Kina Beach campsite by 9.30 am and drove to Motueka on the coast of Abel Tasman Park to investigate kayaking some of the Park coastline. There were so many options to kayak and walk and all quite expensive from Motueka so we decided to drive to Kaiteriteri to see what was available there as this town is nearer to Split Apple Rock, which was what we wanted to see. But Kaiteriteri was heaving, not a single car parking space was available, yet alone space for a motorhome. So we drove right on through to Split Apple Rock beach and walked down to the small beach to see the rock. It looked more like an avocado or pear than an apple, but was still quite impressive. Just as we arrived at the beach a school of dolphins was just passing the rock so we caught the tail end of the show. After a swim and lunch we pressed on to Takaka in the Golden Bay area.
The only road to Golden Bay is over the Marble Mountain range, a very winding, steep road which for about 4km was single lane traffic controlled by traffic lights as the road had fallen away during recent earthquakes. At the top of the hill there was a lookout over the Abel Tasman Park and coastline.
After the final hair pin bend, called Eureka Bend, we drove through a plain to reach Takaka and found a nice small site for $36 so booked in for two nights.