Awesome Abel Tasman

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Just spent two brilliant days in Abel Tasman National Park. I think this is the best place we have been so far. It really does look like it does in all the brochures. It is all clear blue water, blue skies and big stretches of golden beaches and secluded coves.

We started our trip by getting a water taxi (very small and fast boat) to Onetahuti beach which is to the north of the park. Once there we got into our kayaks and headed along the shore. We were in double kayaks (as usual) although this time Tim got to steer.

We headed out to Tonga Island which is a seal reserve and we saw loads of seals which was excellent. They swim along side the kayaks and right under them. They are so playful and cute. We nearly kayaked into the rocks when we were too busy looking at them rather than where we were going!

After that we headed south along the coast . We stopped at Mosquito Bay for lunch where we had a lovely picnic. It was very posh - mussels followed by kebabs (no manky sandwiches for us!)

In the afternoon we had just a short paddle to Anchorage where we stayed for the night at Aquapackers, a floating backpackers! As it was getting quite windy we managed to sail some of the way there. All the kayaks get together in a group and we held a sail up between us. It worked quite well and saved us having to paddle.

Today we walked the 11.5km back to Marahau (where we started from yesterday morning). There are lots of beaches to stop at along the way as well tons of photo opportunities so we made a day of it. The water was so clear that we even saw a ray swim by.

We are now in Nelson and VERY tired after all that exercise (we kayaked 13km). We will sleep well tonight...

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