Blogs from Abel Tasman National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 41

After a relaxing week in fiordland we fancied a change of pace and headed straight to the adventure town of Queenstown. As it was Adele's birthday and the van was beginning to smell we booked into a hostel and mentally prepared ourselves (pacing up and down and sweating) for Adele's birthday treat - a 142m bungee jump from a high wire platform!! Together with 6 other people we took a minibus to the top of a canyon, put on our harnesses and took a very wobbly cable car to the jumping off platform from which we hurled ourself into the abyss of the canyon. Adele 'I didn't scream did I?' Pugh screamed and Simon 'is your face always that red' Parsons turned even redder as he failed to pull his 'uprighting' cord properly and had to ... read more

Sticking with the Outdoors-y theme, we decided to do some trekking (or tramping as the Kiwi's call it). The Abel Tasman National Park Coastal Trek (51km in total) seemed perfect for us beach lovers so we booked our 4 day trek with 3 nights of camping all online with the NZ DOC (Department of Conservation). Many of the campsites have no facilities other than Long Drop Toilets and a tap, so there's lots we needed to take with us. Packed our backpacks full of food, water, cooking stove, gas, plates, pots, pans, cutlery, crockery, clothes, tent, toiletries, sleeping bags, wine box with the box removed so it looked like emergency blood supplies.... and realised that they were VERY heavy. Went through everything and realised that everything we had packed was essential! Parked the car at the ... read more

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 ... read more

On Boxing Day, we visited Farewell spit which is the most northerly point of the south island at the end of Golden Bay. The spit is a nature reserve and can only be visitied on guided tours. So off we went on our trip... lots of sand. We walked amongst seals (fighting - again) and along the 22km sand spit past some dead and beached whales. The lighthouse was a bit disapointing as you couldn't go in but you did get good views. We then drove south to Kaiteriteri to kayak Abel Tasman. It was fun but we only paddled for a half day and we could have pushed ourselves further. However we did have a mini tramp in the bush - and the weather stayed good. ... read more

Woke up nice and early to check the weather for our days kayaking. We had stormy weather during the night, but luckily it had cleared to blue skies but still a bit breezy. So 8.30am booked our kayak and turned up for the safety briefing. (we had been told a couple of weeks ago 2 people had died!) so we were all ears! After a couple of hours learning what to do and what not to do we set off into the deep blue sea. First stop was Adele Island for our lunch. It was our own little beach, but there were a couple of inhabitants, 2 vicious oyster catchers, (birds). They had a nest on the beach, which we couldn't see, and everytime we walked in that direction they went mad! One dive bombed Andy's ... read more