Blogs from Kaiteriteri, Abel Tasman National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 2

The South Island: Abel Tasman National Park English (Lisa) 20/1 Camping Ground, Car, Ferry, Car, Bethany’s Christian Camp We travelled an awful lot this day. At 5.30 p.m. we arrived at a camping ground, which turned out to be a Christian one. Both of us thought that we’d finally become used to the Kiwi accent. That was until we reached this place. The sentence ‘d’you want the ice in a bag?’ had to be repeated three times in the supermarket before I finally understood it. All vowels are pronounced in a very funny way - especially the ‘i’ and ‘a’/’e’/’ea’. Related to that question, what’s quite strange is that everywhere in New Zealand they pack your groceries in thin, black, plastic bags for you. They must go through tons of those each year. 21/1 Coast Walk ... read more

Vandaag om 06:00 opgestaan, om om 08:30 in Kaiteriteri te zijn voor een dagje kayaken langs de kust. Op Kaiteriteri beach een potje 'footie' gespeeld met gasten van de Kayak toko. Nederlandse eer hoog gehouden door te scoren en een assist te geven! Daarna met een groepje van 5(moi, francaise, zwitserse, engelse en kiwi gids een watertaxi genomen naar Onetahuti beach., waar onze 2persoons kayaks lagen te wachten. Langs de kust naar Awaron bay gekayakt, waar een lagoon zit waar je in kan varen. Er waren zeehonden met kleintjes. Heel gaaf!!! Ze kwamen zelf naar je toe om te spelen...echt geweldig..zo dichtbij.. :) Daarna naar mosquito bay gevaren om te lunchen en uiteindelijk in Anchorage bay uitgekomen. En toen was het al weer 16:00. Wel vermoeiend om een hele dag op het water te vertoeven... :) ... read more

Aching arms and split apples! We arrived at our campervan site in Kaiteriteri and not a moment too soon as it was very busy. I had stopped booking us in ahead of time as we were never stuck for places to go. This time though it turns out there must have been something on, or maybe it was the forecast of great weather for the weekend, but the place was heaving. It was right on the beach with shops selling ice-cream and cafés with over priced food etc all along the edge. It reminded me of holidays in the south west but with the proper weather!! After some trouble with our pitch, (stupid foreigners parking in the wrong spot) we settled in for the night as it was an early start the next day. We were ... read more

Having spent the night at a lodge run by a Dutch couple, day 15 promisses to continue the rather heavenly experience from yesterday. I have booked a place on a catamaran from Ancorage Bay back to Kaiteriteri for the afternoon, so just need to get to the starting point by lunch time. There's a road as far as Marahau, and a car park with snack bar by the National Park entrance. So, rather than walking the first 10km, I decided to drive there. Having had a good cup of coffee and asavoury muffin at the snack bar, I headed off on foot along the Abel Tasman national park walk. It was going to be a 12km hike, which I estimated would take less than 4 hours even allowing for little rests along the way. What hit ... read more

Today we got up and went to the Miyazu Japanese Garden in Nelson, which was very small, but nice. It had small Japanese bridges and stone pathways around to different parts of the garden. There was a yin/yang garden, decorated like the symbol with grass and stones. Also there was a rock garden that we sat at and pondered for awhile. Then we went to Happy Valley Adventures where we signed up for their 3km Skywire (which they claim is the longest in the world!) Before they were ready for us, we got to go down to the river with some old bread and feed tame river eels! It was crazy. At first there was one, but soon Adam had about 8 or so in one little area eating up his bread. It also attracted a ... read more