Sea Kayaaaking across the universe!

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All the pictures in the brochures of the Abel Tasman National park were of aqua waters, lush tropical vegetation and glorious sunshine. When we arrived, there was plenty of lush vegetation, though the sun had made way for rain and when added to the wet conditions the wind helped to disguise the crystal clear waters as, well, not so crystal clear.

There on a blagged freebie… Myself, Judith and Niamh all claimed to be there on a fact-finding mission from Queenstown… where we all worked in the tourist industry - and quite frankly, who wouldn’t believe us with our shiny official-looking letters to back up our stories. The question was more, who would be willing enough to give us FOC (free of charge) trips. Not the guy in Nelson who ran the bicycle tours of the vineyards in that area, but the nice people at Abel Tasman Kayaks (with a little gentle persuasion from my persuasive Irish friends) provided a full day kayaking and lunch to boot, all at zero cost to us!

The three of us were joined with an elderly Japanese couple and our guide who was a bit of a zen like dude and also Japanese, his name was Ryu (same as one of the characters in Street Fighter for those of you that remember!) So, there were 6 in our number, which meant 3 two-seater kayaks. Naturally Ryu paired the elder Japanese lady with him (i.e. strong kayaker with weak kayaker). Judith and Niamh were put together, which left me and elder Japanese dude - please don’t ask me to recall his name. So whilst the girls got on fine together, and Ryu being a guide was fine, I was left struggling to keep up… I reckon I would have been better off with this guy’s wife! His idea of paddling was, well, no, he had no concept of how to paddle.

Despite the weather and my imposed handicap, we had a great day with the highlight perhaps being spotting a seal lunching on octopus mere metres away from us. Poor Niamh was screaming to move away from it, whilst Judith who was controlling the steering of their kayak confused this for excitement, and guided them ever closer to the seal, before it swam away to finish its lunch in peace.

This was the last real activity on our week long trip from Queenstown, we took in Nelson briefly (where the weather remained shocking), before driving on to Christchurch where we were to part ways. Niamh drove “chavvy” (the car) back to Queenstown to spend a few more months their, and Judith and I flew to Auckland, where we would have a few days before heading our separate ways.

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Photos

I'm only smiling because you're leaving!
(L-R) Me, Mr. Yokasuna

Nice weather for ducks
(L-R) Me, Niamh