As we were heading out of Abel Tasman National Park this morning, we made a quick stop at the massive Lake Rotoiti. At its deepest point, Rotoiti is about 270 feet deep. It feeds the Buller River, which the road we took followed for quite a while today. It was gorgeous far beyond what this simple photo shows.

Several of my fellow backpackers took the opportunity to go flying off the end of this fishing pier into the frigid cold water. There are a few photos of the fun over on the Backpackers photo page. Waiting for them in the water were hoards of New Zealand Longfin Black eels. They’re usually harmless to those of us who walk upright on two legs, and from what my bus driver said, are actually quite delicious to eat if you throw them on the smoker. Before you do that though, you first have to chop off their heads and tails, since their brain is actually in their tail. Just don’t get caught doing it in Abel Tasman National Park, because eel fishing there is illegal.