Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

For my birthday this year, my wife went above and beyond.   I didn’t want a product. I didn’t want a thing. For the last year of my thirties, I asked for an experience. And a couple of months before the big day, I casually dropped it into conversation.   “How would you feel,” I asked.  “If for my birthday this year, you took on all of the family duties for a bit... So I can duck off for a couple of nights in the bush?”   I’ll admit to a bias —I’ve spent more time in that any other— but I reckon the Kahurangi might be our best National Park. Although Fiordland National Park obviously boasts the majesty of Milford, Doubtful, and Dusky Sounds, and Abel Tasman has the golden sand beaches, between the nikau groves meeting the Tasman and the true sub-alpine, I reckon nothing can rival the Kahurangi in terms of sheer variety of landscapes.    I was reminded of that diversity this week, when, for my birthday escape, I joined my brother and brother-in-law and drove up the Wangapeka River