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Other entries in Abel Tasman National Park

Abel Tasman kayaking trip!

Another fantastic trip!  Didn't start out to well, feeling very fragile
from the night before, we headed to the ferry in a taxi and when we got
there, we were told it was 2 hours delayed.. Nothing new, this is now 4 out
of 4 times its been delayed when I have been traveling on it!  Had a stroll
into town and had a read of the paper and a nice smoothie before heading
back.  We had a nice snooze on the ferry before arriving in Picton and
getting our hire car to drive down to Nelson for the night.

The Abel Tasman area is supposed to be the sunniest place in NZ but as
Leigh was the rain queen, it wasn't that sunny for us.   We had the best
vegetarian meal ever in Nelson though!  The next morning we had to drive
like the wind as we didn't look at the estimated travel time to Abel Tasman
but the weather was against us and we went through heavy rain and
fog....and had a near death experience, well not exactly but the roads are
twisty and I had to break hard around a corner and we did a bit of a skid
:).  We got there in time though to kit up with our spray skirts and pack
our kayak.  We had a guide called KP who was half Mauri and very
interesting and a great cook.  There was another American and Kiwi couple
with us.  Luckily it was not raining when we got there but it was not
really as we had imagined it: calm waters and pretty cruisey kayaking while
drinking wine... OH NO...! Quite the reverse!  The water was very choppy
and a few times we had to stabilize our kayak so we didn't capsize.  It was
also very rough at one time all 4 kayaks rafted up and we put up a sail to
enable us to get across a bay.  We had a break for lunch and were fed fresh
mussels cooked in orange juice, yum, then beef in pita bread and to finish
lots of pastries and even Milo! (Kayaks can hold LOTS of stuff!)  And the
kayaking continued....the tide had gone out though so we had to lift our
kayaks quite a long way back into the water, this was so funny since Leigh
and I were useless at carrying it (even after all our muscle building from
the last few hours kayaking..!) and couldn't stop giggling, so the boys
helped eventually! Leigh being in front, she had to be on 'Rock Watch' as
quite often when the waves dipped, there were HUGE jaggered rocks poking
out of the sea.


That night we spent in a backpackers but on a boat - called AquaPackers,
also not quite like the brochure....felt quite claustrophobic as it was a 7
sleeper in the hull.  We had a fun evening though, got the wine out
again....met a lovely English couple who had been traveling around for over
a year.  There were also quite a few Dutch guys & gals on the boat and
Leigh couldn't believe how good I was at Afrikaans, the more wine I drank
the more the Afrikaans flowed.  They loved it that we could speak to them
in Afrikaans.  We didn't get much sleep that night as there was such a
storm.  The rain poured and the boat swayed, I was too scared to stay in
the claustrophobic hull so I had to try and sleep on the upper deck.  But
we survived and the next day was beautiful and sunny.  And now the water
looked just like the post cards, aqua green and you can see the bottom of
the sea.  We then did a 4 hour hike back to our car.  We stopped at a
stunning beach along the way for a swim, could have sat there for hours.
We didn't have much water so when we did arrive back....the first cafe we
saw was like an oasis with there smoothies and food!   Except.. us
professional walkers had forgotten our wallets so we had to walk a further
10 minutes back to the camp and then return.

Going to post this pic but have to mention it too, when walking we spotted
a wooden cart with fruit on it marked with a price but no one around.  We
went closer and there was a little tin to put your money in.  I couldn't
believe it, how trusting, it wouldn't work in SA :)!

We then drove to Blenheim for about 4 hours and really treated ourselves to
a Motel :).  We had, had enough of long drops and cold showers.  And there
were more wine farms in Blenheim that we had to test out.  I then had to
say good bye to Leigh as she was heading down to do more exploring the
South Island.      Some of the funnier memories for Leigh, I am sure, will
be that she was so shocked how scared I was of bugs!  She even said how
tough she thought I was till this trip!  Where ever did she get that idea
from? haha! Made some superb memories with Leigh, which was one big laugh
the whole trip.  What an absolute blast!

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