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Published: January 19th 2007
The morning of the 26th we departed Nelson and headed north to Abel Tasman for a two day kayaking expedition.
Our clan had to be the sales person’s worst nightmare. We had him price out every possible option for our trip. He’d give us a few options, we’d huddle and then call him back over and ask if we could take part of one option combine with the anther two and then twist in some other extras. I’m certain he was glad to see us off on our way.
We waited a hippy five minutes for our water taxi, i.e. five minutes turned into forty minutes. The boat we loaded our gear in shoved off and then found that the hydraulics were not working and the motor wouldn’t drop. We slowly started to drift out to deep water; fortunately another taxi arrived and towed us back to the shore where we had to slog through the water with our belongings to a new taxi.
Nearly an hour after we were supposed to leave Marahau our replacement boat motored away to Bark Bay.
Our accommodation at Bark Bay was in a park hut that I guess could accommodate
30 to 40 people. Much to our surprise most of those beds were in two rooms that were more or less shelves that eight or so people would sleep side by side. Very awkward sleeping in close quarters with that many strangers. Fortunately, we got to the hut early enough to grab the one private room, what a relief.
That afternoon we headed out to Tonga Island over stormy water. The island is protected for the seals and other native creatures. Needless to say the training that we were given incase of capsizing came in useful. Jen and Marcos were upturned in the rough seas, but were quickly loaded back in their kayak.
That night we heated canned pasta on a camp fire with an American family from Baltimore.
Next morning Marcos and I were up at 6:30am to pack and set out on what was a five hour kayak trip back to Marahau. The azure sky from the day before had given way to dark ominous rain clouds. We spent a good deal of time paddling in the rain and towards the end visibility was down to a half a mile. If we had drifted too
Marcos and Jen Before the Dunking
We kayaked out to Tonga Island to visit the seal colony. The seals were so playful and inquisitive they’d swim right up and around and under the kayaks. far from the beach it could have been difficult to find our way back to shore.
My face and clothes were salt stained from the ocean spray. A mile long stretch of our return journey was through an area called the Mad Mile. Easily four foot swells and strong wind gusts. The bow of the kayak would actually ride to the top of a crest and then the bottom would drop out and the kayak would fall into the next swell. Often times a combination of the fall and wave action would submerge the front of the kayak and then it would break out just before it had an opportunity to fully engulf me.
Back in civilization we had sopping expedition number one: body art jewelry, and no they were not for me. By the time we returned to Auckland every nook and cranny of the car was stuffed with purchases made while traveling. What fun!
Drove on thru a densely forested valley named Buller Gorge. We stopped at NZ longest swing bridge and paid our five dollars to cross. I had my first of many sand fly encounters. The female species of the fly is at
Breaking the 20 metre (meter) rule.
We were informed that we were to stay 20 metres away from the island for the sake of the seals. Here Jen and Marcos have been pushed by the current and wind right up to the rocks, which lead to their ultimate meeting with the water. least ten times more vicious than a mosquito.
From the bridge we continued on to the west coast. We made a small detour north to Westport for gas. Gas stations are few and far between. The sign at the gestation said that the next fuel could be had a 110km to the south, drivers beware.
We stopped at one of the numerous beaches black sandy beaches and went looking for a white stone for Marcos’s mom. Then on to Pancake rocks for some photos and finally on to Greymouth.
The hostel we crashed in was Noah’s Ark and our room was the sheep room. That night we did laundry because most of our clothes were wet from the time out in Tasman. To my surprise we didn’t do laundry again during the trip, perhaps we should have. The laundry facility was a stand alone small mobile trailer establishment (15 feet by 10 feet). The dryer kept eating our cash and took forever to dry our clothes. Had anyone walked in at 11:30pm that night they would have we were the most exhausted people ever seen.
Ahh 12:40am and not legal; forgive the above. Will's w hamish,
fifi and oh i forget...
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Jim Lesniak
non-member comment
Great Adventure!
In spite of the weather and sand flys, you folks will have a great deal of fun times to remember. Beautiful scenery. Thanks for the great travel blogs that you continue to send. I enjoy them immensely. Jim Lesniak