Been a long time since we were on a boat, almost twenty four hours in fact, so we head off to the Abel Tasman National Park. This is a series of gold sand beaches linked by many excursions. You can be dropped off at one beach, walk to another and be picked up there. Or simply stay on board for the round trip, which is what we elected. The weather started with low cloud, but was warm, we sat upstairs, at the front and soon had our fleeces on as the boat was fast and was also sailing into the wind.

Rather samey views of the coast as we sail North, although the geology is amazing. Small island outcrops are all over the place and we stop to see a seal colony. Everywhere there are flotillas of kayaks all going from A to B. Clusters of boulders give a clue to the origin of the gold sand. The poor quality Granite (from the Cretaceous period) is undermined by the sea, Bits fall off and are eroded and washed Northwards forming sand.

As we turn for home the Sun does come out and the colours are enhanced and we have the wind at our stern, making it less of a battle with nature on the top deck. The National Park looks after the plants and animals on land but also extends into the sea, where you realy do not want to go fishing as you would lose all your money, posessions and be thrown into jail for as much as one sardine. 'Les Mis' all over again?

Cafe awaits us on landing, for a light lunch before we head home along the scenic windy route clinging to the coast.

In the hotel I made some moves and started to write while Liz did research. Suddenly she found we were right on top of 'The Centre Of New Zealand'. A 20 minute drive, we had to investigate such an interesting place.

Now by saying 'right on top of' she might have been making a Contronym which are fascinating because they highlight the complexity and versatility of the English language. For example; Oversight could be careful supervision or an unintentional failure to notice something. Perhaps in our case the latter.

Getting to the bottom of the problem was easy, we drove and parked right there. Right at the bottom of a huge hill. The Centre of New Zealand is on the top of Botanical Hill — the name stems from the hill being used as a central survey point for the first land survey of New Zealand in the 1870s. It is steep. We inspect the native plants as we catch our breath occasionally while climbing. It takes 20 minutes and Liz's app says we have climbed the equivalent of 27 floors. When at the top, there is a good view, we could see in the very far distance the coast we had sailed along. There is also a nice seat and a plaque which I read, stood on to have my photo taken and then availed the seat.