Nelson to the West Coast: Ferries, Forests & Full-On Adventure
We made the ferry!!! 🙌🏼 (and by “made it,” I mean we absolutely sprinted for it 😅).
Our South Island chapter started with me completely messing up the car ferry. We rushed out of the hotel in full chaos mode — bags half-zipped, kids hustled into shoes, adrenaline HIGH. By some miracle, we got lucky and were able to get our car onto the massive ferry just in time. We sailed with Interislander, and when I say it felt like a cruise ship, I mean it — huge, holding close to 1,000 passengers.
I got seasick.
The kids? Thriving.
We met fun families, chatted with locals, and soaked in that classic Kiwi friendliness that seems to follow us everywhere here.
We landed in Picton and drove on to Nelson, where our Airbnb welcomed us with sunshine and salty air.
Nelson: Scooters, Pies & Ocean Air
Within five minutes of arriving, we found an epic oceanside playground — and lucked into a full-on community fair. Live music, food carts, kids running wild, and of course… ice cream. It felt like we had stepped straight into a movie scene.
The next few days in Nelson were beautifully simple:
Scooter rides along the water (with fresh pads and helmets for our scooter boys 🛴)
Beach café pies that absolutely lived up to the hype
Wandering downtown for Chinese one night and Mexican the next
Steaks at home followed by sunset beach walks
Watching planes fly low right over our house — which the boys thought was the coolest thing ever
We hiked to the “Center of NZ” for a perfect one-hour family walk, explored a reserve with some of the oldest trees in the area, and spent long stretches of time at the beach building sand creations and digging massive holes.
The tides in this part of New Zealand are wild — high tide is shockingly high, low tide feels like the ocean disappeared. Watching that dramatic shift each day was fascinating.
A Full-Day Adventure in Abel Tasman
One of our biggest days was exploring Abel Tasman National Park — about an hour’s drive each way from Nelson and absolutely worth it.
We took a boat out to Medlands Beach, hiked to two waterfalls, and timed it to hang at the beach during high tide. We would have loved to do the hike short cut during low tide but we missed that LOL. It was the kind of full, satisfying adventure day where everyone collapses into the car sandy and happy.
That night? Pizza and football. The perfect ending.
Road Tripping the West Coast
From Nelson, we packed up and drove south toward Barrytown — and this stretch of road deserves its own fan club. The coastline is rugged and dramatic in a way that makes you pull over constantly just to stare.
We stopped at a sweet skate park so the boys could scooter, then braved what’s known as the “longest rope bridge” in New Zealand. I won’t lie — it was terrifying and awesome at the same time. The kind of experience that leaves your legs shaky but your heart full.
Dinner that night included steak topped with a giant slab of melting butter (YUM), live music, and that cozy small-town West Coast vibe. We ended the night in a hot tub under the stars at our incredible stay.
Punakaki Magic
The next day we explored the iconic Punakaki Pancake Rocks — blowholes, caves, layered limestone formations that look like actual stacks of pancakes. It felt otherworldly.
We walked muddy beaches in the morning and spent hours building with driftwood — I have never seen so much wood washed up on one shoreline in my life. The boys could’ve stayed there all day constructing forts and towers.
That night we celebrated Boone’s pre-birthday with a fancy dinner on the water.
Birthday Train & What’s Next
This chapter wrapped with us heading to Greymouth to board the train to Christchurch — on Boone’s actual birthday — to meet up with my mom.
Trains, birthdays, & NANA… let the celebrations continue 🎉
I may be three weeks behind on posting, but this stretch of New Zealand has completely stolen our hearts. The mix of adventure and simplicity. Big hikes and slow scooter days. Wild coastline and cozy dinners.
Exactly the kind of travel season we dreamed of.