Abel Tasman National Park

It would be hard to imagine a more perfect piece of coastline - clear turquoise waters, golden beaches, interesting rocky headlands, lush native forest and all kinds of interesting wildlife. The Abel Tasman National Park is a coastal paradise that you can walk through or explore by cruise boat, sailing catamaran, water taxi or sea kayak.

Marahau is the park's southern entry point. Here you'll find accommodation of all types, cafes, guided sea kayak tours, kayak hire for self-guided trips, Maori cultural experiences, seal swimming operators and horse trekking operators. Kaiteriteri is another launching point for adventures in the park. Cruises and water taxis depart from the beach - you can even paddle into the park in an authentic Maori waka (war canoe).

Walking the coastal track - guided or self-guided - is an exercise in freedom. You'll hike from beach to perfect beach, around headlands, across tidal mudflats and through native forest. There are huts and campsites along the way. Generally, the track takes around three days to complete. If you don't have time to do the whole track, it's easy to arrange for a water taxi drop-off or pick-up at various points along the way. If you want to walk a path less trodden, take the Inland Track through the hilly centre of the park.

Farewell Spit

Situated at the extreme northern tip of the South Island, Farewell Spit stretches more than 30 kilometres into the Tasman Sea and is an area of outstanding natural beauty. The Maori name for the spit is Onetahua, meaning 'heaped up sand'.

Farewell Spit has been a bird sanctuary since the 1930s and provides a home for over 90 bird species. Bar tailed godwits, knots, curlews, whimbrels and turnstones fly around 12,000 kilometres every northern hemisphere autumn to spend the summer here in the south. The spit also has a gannet colony.

To guide passing ships, Farewell Spit's first lighthouse was built in 1869. In the early years the lighthouse site had no vegetation and windblown sand was an ongoing problem for the keepers. Then one clever keeper organised for small loads of soil to be delivered with the mail. He planted a windbreak of macrocarpa pines which are still there to this day. The pines protect the station from the shifting sands and provide a daylight landmark for passing ships.

The best way to experience the spit is on a 4WD safari. You'll find tour operators in nearby Collingwood.

Heaphy Track

The Kahurangi National Park protects the north western tip of the South Island. The park includes the Department of Conservation's longest hiking trail - the famous Heaphy Track - which runs between Golden Bay and the rugged west coast.

Reaching a maximum altitude of around 900 metres, the track delivers a wide range of scenery as it follows rivers and travels over expansive tussock downs to the lush forests, nikau palms and roaring seas of the Tasman Sea coast.

Native bird species readily found include weka, pipit, tui, bellbird, pigeon and robin. With luck, hikers may hear or even sight some rarer bird species, such as the great spotted kiwi, morepork and blue duck. Half of New Zealand's 40 species of giant, carnivorous land snail inhabit the park, and New Zealand's only native mammal - a bat - might be seen in the evenings.

In days gone by, Maori from the Golden Bay area traversed the pass in search of the highly prized pounamu (greenstone or jade) used for weapons, tools and ornaments. Early European miners used the route as a pack trail, but by 1900 it had fallen into overgrown disuse. In 1965, when the national park was formed, the trail was cleared and opened for public use by the Department of Conservation. Today the Heaphy Track is well formed and all river crossings are bridged. Hikers' huts and camping areas must be booked ahead.

The 82 kilometre long Heaphy Track is not a circuit journey - the two ends are 463 kilometres apart by road. Public phones at either end of the track link to transport providers from the nearby towns.