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Published: June 17th 2011
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We had an early wake up call to make it to our 9:30 kayak launch from Golden Bay. This was not an easy task. We had been going to bed around 9PM and getting up before sunrise. This enabled us to take advantage of all of the daylight hours of the relatively short days on our trip...winter is in 4 days! As we are here longer, we are adjusting to a more normal schedule, with the kids staying up later and Suzy and I actually making it up until 11 on a couple of nights!
We started off on the drive a few minutes behind schedule, but with plenty of time to make it to Tata Beach near the town of Pohara. The drive started with a relatively straight passage through vineyards which eventually gave way to orchards. After about 30 minutes, we headed into a winding road up the mountainside. The traffic was surprisingly steady and the regulars on the route drove at a pretty brisk clip. Near the top we got into some fog and light drizzle. This was disappointing as it was supposed to be clear. The forest on the south side of the climb started thick,
but nearly as lush as those we had hiked and driven through on the North Island. As we came to the summit and on the decent, the forest started to resemble those on the North Island. The forest in time turned to grazing pasture and finally we hit the town of Takaka. From here we drove through a handful of small towns and found Tata Beach.
Our kayaks were similar to those from last week, and we decided to configure ourselves the same - Theo with our guide, Nigel, the boys in the other kayak and the girls together in the third. The weather was a bit unfriendly. Cool with a decent wind. We donned life jackets and kayak skirts (they are like tight rubber skirts that act as a seal for the hole that you sit in so water doesn't get in the kayak).
We headed straight out from shore and circled two islands. The islands form the northern border of the Abel Tasman National Park. There were nesting shags (a cormorant of which New Zealand boasts six varieties) and fur seals along the rugged coasts of these inhospitable islands. New Zealand is geologically young and therefore
has a lot of surviving small islands dotting its coasts as well as plenty of rugged coastlines short of many sandy beaches. We sufficiently demonstrated our paddling prowess, so we were permitted to thread through the "Tunnel of Death." The daunting name was a bit like calling a Chihuahua "Killer", but it was challenging enough for us. After circling the islands, we headed to cruise along the shore which also gave us ample opportunity to see some beautiful coastline and thread through rocks. We rounded the bend and saw a couple of mussel farms, an activity of some dispute within the National Park. We reached a nice beach and had some hot chocolate, tea and coffee as well as some tasty treats for energy to power our return. We had a nice time and it warmed up toward the end of the trip. This trip was about an hour longer than our last, and my upper body could feel the difference!
After our kayaking, we decided to do a couple of hikes in the area since we weren't sure if we would drive up this way again. Our first stop was the Grove, a short half an hour loop
Our stopping point
A nice beach where we took our morning tea and break from our kayak trip to a view of the valley below. The trail started in an area surrounded by orchards and pastures but quickly was engulfed by a lush jungle. The limestone outcroppings had taken on a green hue from a thin moss covering. Trees grew in, around and on the rocks. In some places vines and exposed roots ran down the rocks as much as 25 feet. It really looked like a movie set of a jungle, almost surreal. Suzy put it best when she told Theo this looked like his Mayan Set (a Playmobile toy set). The erosion patterns of the rock also made for some nice exploration and climbing opportunities (especially when accompanied by the vines and roots). The overlook wasn't nearly as cool as the hike (this was more about the journey than the destination) and the view of the ocean was muted by the cloud coverings.
Our second stop after kayaking was to the Labyrinth Rock Park. This was a real funky area that boasts something called Karst Geology. This occurs when groundwater carves limestone caverns. Eventually the roofs of the caverns wear away and the caves are exposed. This Labyrinth was naturally carved and the trail was
fixed so that the surrounding thick foliage was incorporated into the act of a making fantastic and quite extensive maze. This was a total blast to explore. Everyone got lost and split up. At some point the volunteer caretakers of the park started putting little toys in crevasses and up in trees. This added to the fun of the experience as we found Furbies and most of the Seven Dwarfs. There were toys from Shrek and other Disney movies, plastic dinosaurs and insects and le piece de résistance: Blastoise from Pokemon! Not surprisingly, Geddy & Ivy didn't make it out until well after the rest of us had finished our exploration. This was another amazingly cool thing that we got all to ourselves.
We were exhausted from another great day in New Zealand and headed back on the long road home to enjoy a warm fire, hot dinner and the tub on the deck.
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