Day 7: Sunday, March 3, 2002
Kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park

Today we planned to go kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park. Frommers had raved about it as one of the most beautiful places to kayak, so we were looking forward to it. It starts from Marahau, which is about 70km from Nelson along windy roads and through towns, so we planned for about an hour and a quarter to get there. We had to be there to check in at 8:30, so we wanted to leave around 7am or so, which meant getting up early.

We got up even earlier still (6am) so that Walendo would have time to call Russ & Judy to find out about Libby and whether she was okay. (She'd apparently bitten their dog and was acting up, no doubt upset that we were still away). He used the Yabba card to call, which was inexpensive and turned out to be easy to do. Judy answered and seemed to assure him that Knuffi had recovered and Libby was okay, missing us of course but generally herself. They were keeping them more apart and Knuffi was staying clear of Libby, but Judy seemed relatively calm about it, so that helped Walendo relax. After hanging up, he realized he hadn't asked everything he watned to know, so he called back and again got reassuring answers. That made a huge difference. He relaxed and was able to focus on the day ahead. (Still, he'll be very happy when we go pick her up, as will Libby.)

Having taken care of that, we hit the road. We got gas and left town about 7:10 and we arrived in Marahau about an hour later, less than the guide book (and the kayaking pamphlet) had said, but maybe that was because it was so early and on a Sunday. We checked in at Abel Tasman Kayaks and since we were so early they told us there was a cafe at the end of the road, so we went to get some breakfast. The cafe was at the trail head for the Abel Tasman tramp, which Walendo had done 11 years ago. He was remembering what that had been like. He didn't recognize the cafe, and it turned out it wasn't there then. So much has been developed, even though that area was pretty small and rustic. We each got some muesli and I had tea, a good start to the day. Once again, we liked the music playing in the cafe so Walendo asked what it was. The people working there said they really liked it and recommended it, so maybe we'll pick it up. It was called Mirror Conspiracy by Thievery Corporation. (We picked it up later and we love it too.)

Walendo with his new Abel Tasman kayaking hat

We went back to the kayak place and by now some other people were there. They offer three day trips: one where you paddle out and back from the starting area, one where you paddle out and come back by water taxi (the one we were on), and one where they take you out by water taxi, you paddle around further in the park, and they take you back by water taxi. Our trip involved the most vigourous paddling because you kayak on the "mad mile," which is more exposed to the ocean waves. We were in a group with an English couple who had been kayaking for many years, and two French couples who had never kayaked before. We were in the middle, having kayaked maybe 10 times before over the last few years. Not an easy group to work with, but our guide, Ryu, handled it well and was pretty patient with everyone. I think it was hard for the French people to understand his English (they didn't seem comfortable with English in general), so he paid special attention to make sure they got what he was saying (though I'm not sure they always did). We spent about an hour getting our gear and getting some instruction. Ryu may have given more instruction because of the beginners, but Walendo and I learned about a stroke to use when you're paddling with big waves coming parallel to you, so that was useful. They were pretty well equipped and supplied everything we needed, although they didn't have a dry bag, which surprised me. But they gave us camera boxes, which was fine. They also had big, comfy double kayaks. Walendo had been squished in the last kayak so that his legs had gone numb, but when he tried out this one he said it gave him plenty of room, so that was good.

Our group kayaking in Abel Tasman

We headed out from the start, pulling our kayaks on wheel barrow-like contraptions out to the water, about 500 meters down the road. It was a gorgeous sunny day without much wind, so the conditions were good. We paddled out from the beach and everyone seemed to be doing okay. The water is a gorgeous turquoise color and it was so clear you could see through it easily. With the beautiful coastline and the big comfy kayaks, we were both feeling happy to be there. I felt pretty comfortable paddling and it seemed like we got into a nice groove quickly. The English couple went ahead quickly but they stopped and let people catch up from time to time and they seemed okay with that.

Ellen kayaking in Abel Tasman

Over time the French couples got the hang of it, and I don't think it caused much trouble that we were of different levels of experience. We were generally a little back from the English couple and we were happy to rest from time to time as the rest of the group caught up.

Ellen during Abel Tasman snack break

We paddled for about an hour or so and then stopped at a beach not far up the coast from there. Ryu pulled out a little pre-lunch snack with some baked bread, cookies, juice and coffee, quite nice. We munched and relaxed, and some people swam in the water. There were quite a few kayak groups on the beach, each taking a different slice of the beach. Not the most secluded experience. People in our group were a little shy with each other, probably in part because the language barrier was high, so we didn't talk that much with each other. After about a half hour or so, we got back in the kayaks and continued on, hugging the coast. It was close to high tide, and high tide that day was at its highest point. Because of that, we were able to paddle through a little cave that apparently you can't normally kayak through, so we all snaked our way through it, which was fun. Then there were some other caves that you could go in for a bit and back out, which we passed on. At that point there were about a dozen or so kayaks around from different trips, all waiting to check out the caves. One person waiting to go into the cave said you practially have to reserve a parking spot here!

We continued on and the crowd thinned out a bit. Ryu told us how the park had gotten its name. Abel Tasman was a Dutch explorer who had discovered a bunch of New Zealand, and he'd seen this northern coast but had never landed. When he'd arrived off the coast, some Maori people did a "challenge dance," which is a questioning dance asking if they were going to challenge them. The Dutch saw it as a welcome dance and so replied with a trumpet call. That led the Maori to attack, so the Dutch quickly left. The reason the park is named after him is that a French woman had wanted to make it a park when NZ was starting to develop it. She petitioned the government, but didn't have much luck. Eventually, she wrote to the queen of the Netherlands asking for her support, offering to name the park after Tasman if she helped. She did and the park was created. This had all happened in the 1930s or so. He pointed out a little house that the french woman had lived in while she was on her cruisade.

So far we'd been kayaking on relatively calm water. When we turned a corner, we were on the "mad mile." Ryu said the waves weren't that high compared to how they can get, but it was challenging enough for us. We paddled along there for about an hour, getting some good exercise. You have to concentrate more, since the height of the paddle isn't at the same point with each stroke as the waves come and go. Still, we moved along well and enjoyed the action. We passed by some birds on the rocks, which I thought looked like Cormorants and was pleased to find out I was right. No seals or dolphins, though. Ryu checked in with us at one point to see how much energy we had, giving us the option to stop at a nearby beach but everyone seemed okay to continue, so we did. After a short while longer we came around the bend into a more protected area. But then we were paddling against the current, and that was some of the harder paddling we'd done. By the time we stopped for lunch a little before 2pm I was glad for the rest.

Kayaks docked for lunch

Since the tide was so high, he took us to a different place from where they normally stop. We kayaked across a lagoon and over to a nice protected beach. Walendo recognized the lagoon as part of the Abel Tasman track he'd hiked 11 years ago. Apparently, at low tide the trail goes right across where we were kayaking. We walked along the trail for a bit to get to the bathroom and Walendo told me what he remembered of that day. He has a photo of Bob from that area, so we'll have to check it out when we get home.

Ryu setting out lunch spread

Lunch turned out to be a delicious meal. Ryu heated up some pita bread and put out an array of veggies, some beef and tofu, and some sauces (plum and yogurt) and we made delicious pita sandwiches. Everyone seemed to enjoy them. We chatted more at lunch and I learned a little more about the French couples. One of them was working here at the vineyards during the off season in France. They said the vineyards are much bigger here, which surprised me. The English couple told us some stories of their kayaking experiences.

Just before lunch we'd met a New Zealand couple with their black Labrador sitting on the beach near us. Walendo and I went over to pet the dog, figuring we could send dog hugs to Libby through her. The couple was very nice and we chatted a bit. They said this the only park where you can take dogs. I'll never understand why they keep dogs from parks, sigh. After lunch, we went back over to pet the dog some more and we had a nice chat with the couple. They say the best dog pictures seem to come from the US, especially dog calendars. Go figure. We discussed different dog breeds and generally connected on our mutual love for dogs.

Standing up in our kayaks

After about 1.5 hours at the beach it was time to pack up again. It was after 3pm and we had only a little more to go before we would be picked up by the water taxi to go back. We paddled back out of the lagoon and around a corner, and Ryu waited for us all to collect at a calm spot and form a raft (putting all the boats together in parallel). Then he said we were going to "have some fun." By that he meant we were all going to stand up in our kayaks together. No way. He walked us through it, and sure enough, we did (though maybe only for a few seconds). He grabbed cameras from two of us and took pictures for us. Unfortunately you can't see the two other women in the far kayaks, but you get the idea. Just before this shot, a wave came and hit the kayaks, which rocked the whole thing. Walendo half sat, half slipped down into his seat, rocking the whole thing even more and everyone fell/sat down again. We tried it a second time and this time we got it. This seemed so silly, I didn't think it was part of the normal tour, but Ryu said it was. Funny.

Tractor with boat trailers pulling a boat out of the water

Tractor driving boat with passengers in it

After that we paddled five minutes up the shore to a beach where a bunch of kayaks were unloading and a bunch of power boats were picking people up. We packed everything up, they loaded the kayaks on the back of the boat and then took off with us along with some people from another group. It took only 10 minutes or so to get back. When we returned, they actually lowered tractors with boat trailers attached into the water, then guided the boats onto the trailers, and just pulled the boats out of the water with everyone still in them. They drove us all back to the base in the boat. How odd! One tractor pulling the trailer got stuck in reverse, so they couldn't get the boat up. We were pulled out of the water before they fixed it, so we're not sure what they did, but later, when we were driving back, we saw the tractor going backwards down the road with a car following it. Yikes.

When we got back to the base, we put all our gear away and said goodbye, getting the email addresses of the others so we could send them copies of the standing-up-in-the-kayak picture. We drove back to Nelson, and got back around 6pm. We knew the town would be mostly closed since it was Sunday, and Walendo was determined to go to McDonalds again (or cheap Chinese, but McDonalds won). We changed quickly at the hotel, then went back out again. I actually got the quiche at McDonalds, and it was even okay. Walendo was very happy with his meal. But there were no dessert places open, so we stopped at the grocery store (open till 9pm, thankfully) and I bought some ice cream. I ate it back at the hotel. It was only okay. New Zealand doesn't make it onto the list of great ice cream places, sadly.

Feeding the ducks & seagulls

Right near the hotel there's a bridge over a river and there are lots of ducks that cruise along the river. We decided to get rid of a bunch of bread that we'd bought over the past few days by dropping them down to the ducks from the bridge. When we started, there were no ducks, but within 2 minutes, a couple dozen arrived, plus about as many seagulls. It was so much fun to watch them scurry to eat bits of bread that we ended up giving them about a loaf and a half by the time we were done. It seemed like the ducks had higher status or something because most of the gulls wouldn't fight with the ducks for the bread thrown in the water, they'd wait for us to thrown some on the shore toward them. Of course, with all the bread we had, everyone probably went home full and happy.

Back in the hotel, we looked at the digital pictures from the last few days, and now I'm catching up with this journal. Sure enough, Walendo is snoozing next to me. It's been a long but happy day. Tomorrow we drive to Christchurch.

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