Abel Tasman, NZ

Thur 19 Feb, 2009 - Nelson and Abel Tasman National Park

Today we took a day tour out to the Abel Tasman which involved kayaking and hiking (a walk - wouldn‘t call the section we did a hike!) Departed Nelson at 7am with the rain coming down and Jen saying we should have done this yesterday - better weather! Half way around to the Abel Tasman however the sky began to clear and we saw the sun - Yeah! Arrived at Marahau about 8.30am.

So did the whole safety and how to thing with the sea kayaks then we were ready. With our packs stored in the kayaks and loaded onto the tractor trailer we walked to the water. Low tide so we had to walk out across the sand/ calf deep water to appropriate launch depth. No waves here so nice and calm start - possibly won’t lose my drink bottle today!! The kayak itself took about 3½ hours. We stopped on the beach of Adele Island, the larger of two islands just off the coast, for morning tea. Even managed to get plunger coffee - not instant! Two girls braved the cool waters and had a swim. The tour guide, Steve, laughed at Jen and myself as the water was too cold for the Aussies! Headed back to the main land and reached Observation Beach for lunch. A lovely salad roll and a huge raspberry muffin.

The water taxi then took us around to Bark Bay for us to begin our walk. We had plenty of time to do the 2hr walk. So I walked along Bark Bay Beach before setting off. The walk was an easy grade which went in through the forest. It was very nice and the light cloud cover which had come in for the afternoon brought a nice cool breeze and great walking conditions. I had heard that the walk can be done in 1¼ hours which would have given time for a swim at Torrent Bay before getting the water taxi back to Marahau. Jen is a little slower than me and was also battling with a sore knee so it took us a full 2hrs+ to get around to Torrent Bay. Just sat down and getting organised to jump in the water when the taxi pulled up. Bugger! Oh well the walk was great and we then got all the spray on the way back as we were sitting in the back! Whilst full of activity was a great, not overly strenuous day.

This region is really nice and would be good to spend more days at some time in the future going between the different huts in the National Park. Back at the Paradiso and jumped in the spa before dinner.