Abel Tasman Day 1

I am posting  several back blips as we were without internet access for three days. I apologise for not having responded to all the lovely comments from fellow blippers over the past few days. I will catch up as soon as I can. 

It was an early start today, as we were collected from our hotel at 7am by the tour company. There were a few more pick ups on the way to Kaiteriteri where we boarded the boat that took us up the coast to Totaranui to start the walk. On the way we pulled into a few bays to drop people off and had a magical encounter with Dolphins swimming around and under the boat. 

On arrival at Totaranui we did a short one hour loop, then had our lunch before starting the 2.5 hour walk to Awaroa, where we were being barged across the estuary to our accommodation for the night at Meadowbank Homestead. It was a glorious sunny day, the scenery was wonderful and, although we had one very steep climb and a few smaller ones, it was an enjoyable walk. There was a short walk to reach the homestead after the barge dropped us off and we had time to shower and change before drinks, nibbles and a delicious three-course dinner. As we settled down for the night I happened to look up at the window behind the bed and was rewarded with a view of lots of stars sparkling in the dark sky. Magic!  An excellent start to the three-day walk. 

The main blip and the extra show a selection of photos which were all taken on the day, but collated at time of posting.

There were 6,718 new community cases reported today. The number of people in hospital is 604, including 22 people in ICU. Twelve new deaths have been reported.