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Published: March 23rd 2009
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Tea on the Beach
How very british and civilised It has been nearly five months now since I left the south island and for the past few weeks I have been getting excited about getting to see the south island again especially as its now summer and so therefore should be so much warmer and sunnier. It was pretty foul the whole way up the west coast when I did it last time, so I’m hoping the good weather I have been having will continue.
I left Taupo and headed south on the magic bus till we got to the Capital city, Wellington. Here I was lucky enough to catch up with my skiing mate Rob, who was one of the first people I met in NZ, it was really great to catch up with him and find out what he’s been up to etc. Rob also allowed me to crash at his for a night which was a welcomed change from dorm rooms and bunk beds I have been in recently. A few of us later that evening headed out to this awesome sushi restaurant where we had to sit on the floor with those small tables which was great, Although I still have no idea what I’m
eating most of the time, so just thought getting a big plate selection is the best way. It always surprises me how filling sushi is, it’s only little bundles of raw fish and rice wrapped in seaweed!
The following day Sarah, Helen and I caught the ferry across the Cook Strait, through the beautiful Marlborough Sounds and arrived in Picton where we jumped straight on to a bus to Nelson. It’s feels strange as I’m retracing my steps from the same route I took 5 months ago, but last time the weather was so bad I never got to go to the Abel Tasman National park but having looked at the weather In Wellington I was really pleased to find that the forecast was going to be awesome, so me and Sarah decided straight away to booked ourselves onto a full days Kayaking trip.
We really were lucky once again as the weather could not have been better, the sea was so calm, it was beautifully sunny and there was very little wind. We caught a bus from Nelson in the morning and then joined 3 others that were booked on the same trip. We then met our
Our group
The girls really weren't putting the effort in like us three boys! guide Holly and by his own admission said that he is the only Jock Lad in history to have ever been named Holly by his mother and his sister is called ivy, we thought he was taking the piss at first but we found out he wasn’t! What a name for a bloke ha ha.
We were all given a quick rundown on how to use the kayak’s and I was well happy to find these were the first kayak’s I have ever used that have rudders, which allows you to just paddle and use the rudder to steer which was a real novelty. I still have memories of one of the only times I fell out with Owen while travelling with him, we were in Thailand and tried our hand at canoeing but ended up zigzagging the whole way up the river cause he only knew full power ahead or stop!
We set out from the beach and paddled across the big bay, it was so beautiful here and I was instantly thoroughly enjoying myself. We kayaked around a number of lovely bays and inlets but after a couple of hours we pulled up on our own private
island for some tea on the beach - being English I found this particularly appealing, what more could you ask for when you have view like this a a cuppa tea in your hand - ok, well maybe a beer, but I didn’t have one alright!
As you can see from the pics, the beach and area all around where just so gorgeous and could have easy been in Oz, the sand was so golden and the sea was so clear and actually not that cold. The beach we stopped at for lunch could have been taken straight from a post card and it was awesome just sat there in the sun taking it all in while having this gi-huge sandwich Holly had prepared for us.
The Abel Tasman really lived up to all my expectations and all the hype from everyone that has been there. We kayaked around for a good 6 hours and seen many stunning bays etc, before we finally pulled up on anchorage beach, had a loving swim and waited for the water taxi (speed boat) to come and pick us up. Both Sarah and I were surprised at how far we had come, but
even more surprised at how much the weather had changed. The swell had really started to pick up and the few remaining kayaks were really struggling across the waves and our boat (water taxi) was crashing and bashing though the ever increasing waves - it was awesome fun, well it was for us as we were at the front under cover but for Dan and Jen in the back they got well soaked!!
When we had set out first thing it had been high tide, but the time we came back later in the afternoon the tide was well out so the boat had to drive up and onto a trailer which was in-turn attached to an old tractor. Now the bloke driving the boat jumped out leaving all of us in the boat while he drove us back to the shop on the tractor. Once we crossed the beach we drove up on to the road and I just started laughing as I have never sat in a boat while being towed along by a tractor a road looking down on to a beach - it just tickled me and I found it incredible funny riding around in
a boat on a road (ok you probably had to have been there to fully appreciate it).
Over the next couple days we travelled south passing the pancake rock again and then spent a night in the most boring place in New Zealand, Greymouth! It was wet windy and the place offers nothing to do, apart from drink! Luckily the following morning we headed on to Franz Josef (where I climbed the glacier last time) because I have been down this coast before I have seen most of what I wanted to see and just using the bus to get me down south, so really didn’t get up to that much. Leaving Franz Josef in the morning though we did stop at Lake Matherstan which is also known as the ‘mirror lake’ due to it calm water and mirror effect of the southern alps, it’s particularly impressive as you can see the largest mountain in NZ - Mt Cook as well. As the pic show the lake does live up to its name and we could see Mt Cook in the distance which was brilliant.
Finally I have now arrived where I started 6months ago, in the most
beautiful place in the whole of NZ - Wanaka. I was so glad to be back but I will fill you all in of that in my next blog.
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