Abel Tasman National Reserve

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After a disaster day in Nelson, where everything went wrong (we won't go into that!), we slept in Abel Tasman, a NZ National Reserve in the north east of the South Island.

The following day we went Sea Kayaking in the stunning blue waters of the Golden Bay. We rented a double Kayak with a rudder which was very difficult to operate at first (but Dom stepped up to the challenge!). Due to the wind the waves were pretty choppy but we found this really fun!

We headed up to the end of the peninsula where seals were basking in the sun. We stopped for photos (quite a hard task in a Kayak) before heading towards a rockier area with a cave that we squeezed through.

There was also a couple of islands on the way which had colonies of Shags (heron sized birds, with a little more colour - and a cool hairstyle!) nesting there.


Before heading south to Westport, we decided to go for a small trek around the Abel Tasman area. A part of the track was only walkable a few hours either side of low tide. What was meant to be a
Seal resting on rock around rough waves
couple of hours walk turned out to be about 5 hours, as we seriously misjudged the tide and ended up wading up to our waists in water! Not a particularly pleasant experience during the time but an adventure when we looked back on it in the safety (and warmth!) of our van.

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Photos

Roaring seal
We got a little too close to this seal

Bex wading through the sea
This was before we realised how bad it would get - we weren't smiling by the end!

Spot the Croc
It isn't real unfortunately, just a log that looks like one!

Comments

[Anne]

Take care
Sounds a bit dangerous....take care!!!