Abel Tasman, South Island, NZ - 24 Feb 09
We landed in Nelson on a lovely dry evening, hired a car and drove off to Marahau, our base, a tiny halmet with just one shop and 2 restaurants. We mainly followed the coast line and it was very pretty indeed, even at dusk, it showed potential. We were so looking forward to our day kayaking around the bay...
We checked into the Ocean View Chalets (very comfy) and crashed into bed fairly early. I took lots of medication and just prayed I'd be fit and ready to go next day as it'd be our most active one so far.
We had a 8.20am pick up and I had a very plain breakfast as I wasn't sure how I'd feel on the water. We first went on a water taxi for about 20 mins and then on a beach to get our briefing for the H&S on the kayak. Our first treat of the day (and our fav one too) was that a beautiful friendly dolphin came to the shore to say Hi to us all. One guy managed to just jump into the water and swim with it but I was fully dressed and didn't have my gear handy, nor my camera to make a small video as a keepsake. It was SO frustrating because it was such a lovely moment... We later were told that the dophin had been nicknamed 'George' by the locals and was known to come and say hello on a good day :)
We then got into our double kayaks and Janet sat at the back, in charge of steering. She'd never kayaked before and I'd only had 2 feeble attempts previously with an 'expert'. Our first kayaking trek was to go to Tonga island where they have a fur seal colony. I took my SRL camera in a waterproof case hoping for great shots, but we didn't really see many, nor could we even get 'up close and personal' -- there was a 'no more than 20 meters' rule so we were both very disappointed (Janet loves seals the way I love the big cats). However, they did have a separate tour @ $115 where you could swim with the seals for an hour... (but the water was quite cold). It had taken us about 30 mins to get to the island and we were already tired by then. We could have happily gone straight back to the shore at this point but we were told we had to paddle for another 1h30 or so to get to small bay for our lunch. This felt just toooo long. We didn't seem to master the technique to go as fast as the other boats and felt oh so disheartened. Our (lady) guide even had to give us a helping hand in the end and towed us behind her to give us extra power as we were slowing everybody down as a result (we had to stay as a group as it's easier for boats to spot us then).
Janet, who is not happy on boats at the best of time was starting to feel queasy, and I was getting all sorts of aches and pains and I just couldn't wait to be through with it. When we eventually landed on tierra firma, it was such a relief. It was a beautiful bay (white sand, for once -- most beaches in NZ tend to have golden sand or black sand even) and I did love our picnic. It was a proper cooked lunch as our guide had brought a gas bottle and it was truly delicious and such a pretty setting - very lush with a little stream effect (i.e. what was left of the high tide). I loved it... and I soon gained my appetite back ... thankfully.
We then set off for a 2 hour hike around the tropical forest but what the brochure had failed to mention is that the trek was actually 7 kms long and that we had to catch a commercial boat at exactly 4.15pm and couldn't afford to miss it (probably the last one of the day, knowing NZ and its obsession with closing everything far too early).
So, instead of the leisurely walk that we had pictured, we actually ended up being marched down this beautiful trek at some mad speed and, to make matters worse, it started to rain and we all got quite wet and miserable. We did tell our guide that this was NOT what we wanted as we had NO time at all to take photos, drink water, tie up our shoe laces, or whatever, such was the pace, but all she'd say was like 'oh, ok, cool, well, we can slow down a bit, but not too much as we do have to make the boat'... I was sooo tired (not having been able to keep anything down the day before) that Janet kindly offered to carry most of my belongings, incl. a heavy beach towel we'd borrowed from the hotel, my rucksack, my camera bag, etc. poor thing, she looked like a donkey. She was SO thoughtful really... and I still struggled to keep up as I am so unfit. And on a few occasions I made a point to STOP and take a photo anyway... I thought 'I've had to work quite hard to pay for this trip, it did cost a lot of money ($215, eeek), I will never walk this trek again and I want to remember the best bits'. But the views that should have been stunning and stretching for miles were heavily affected by the drizzle... it was such a shame. I could have cried with frustration. We even walked over a beautiful swing bridge and it would have been an incredible view on each side, but because the light was so low, both my cameras really struggled to take any decent shots. You should have seen me dressed up with my fleece, scarf, and umbrella.... not the holiday picture you dream of really. But boy, was I glad I had everything with me...
We did make the taxi boat, just... and then we got cold even more being on the water taxi. Janet let me have a hot shower first, to warm up (she's such a treasure and so mumsy :), and then we had an early dinner and both went to bed by 9pm. We were shattered. Physically exhausted really. My feet were throbbing and my knee was starting to hurt. Just plain crazy. No wonder that estimations for hikes in NZ are way out for us.. The NZ estimates must be based on 20 something kids who love adventure and sports and are super fit and do these hikes for sports more than leisure. But I'm 44, Janet is 50, and this is not what we had in mind at all. In hindsight, we would not have bothered... the bit we didn't enjoy (the kayaking) was twice as long as we needed it to be, and the bit we did enjoy (the beautiful hike) was twice as short as we would have liked it to be. But 'hindsight is a wonderful thing', hey?.... as we all know so well.
We landed in Nelson on a lovely dry evening, hired a car and drove off to Marahau, our base, a tiny halmet with just one shop and 2 restaurants. We mainly followed the coast line and it was very pretty indeed, even at dusk, it showed potential. We were so looking forward to our day kayaking around the bay...
We checked into the Ocean View Chalets (very comfy) and crashed into bed fairly early. I took lots of medication and just prayed I'd be fit and ready to go next day as it'd be our most active one so far.
We had a 8.20am pick up and I had a very plain breakfast as I wasn't sure how I'd feel on the water. We first went on a water taxi for about 20 mins and then on a beach to get our briefing for the H&S on the kayak. Our first treat of the day (and our fav one too) was that a beautiful friendly dolphin came to the shore to say Hi to us all. One guy managed to just jump into the water and swim with it but I was fully dressed and didn't have my gear handy, nor my camera to make a small video as a keepsake. It was SO frustrating because it was such a lovely moment... We later were told that the dophin had been nicknamed 'George' by the locals and was known to come and say hello on a good day :)
We then got into our double kayaks and Janet sat at the back, in charge of steering. She'd never kayaked before and I'd only had 2 feeble attempts previously with an 'expert'. Our first kayaking trek was to go to Tonga island where they have a fur seal colony. I took my SRL camera in a waterproof case hoping for great shots, but we didn't really see many, nor could we even get 'up close and personal' -- there was a 'no more than 20 meters' rule so we were both very disappointed (Janet loves seals the way I love the big cats). However, they did have a separate tour @ $115 where you could swim with the seals for an hour... (but the water was quite cold). It had taken us about 30 mins to get to the island and we were already tired by then. We could have happily gone straight back to the shore at this point but we were told we had to paddle for another 1h30 or so to get to small bay for our lunch. This felt just toooo long. We didn't seem to master the technique to go as fast as the other boats and felt oh so disheartened. Our (lady) guide even had to give us a helping hand in the end and towed us behind her to give us extra power as we were slowing everybody down as a result (we had to stay as a group as it's easier for boats to spot us then).
Janet, who is not happy on boats at the best of time was starting to feel queasy, and I was getting all sorts of aches and pains and I just couldn't wait to be through with it. When we eventually landed on tierra firma, it was such a relief. It was a beautiful bay (white sand, for once -- most beaches in NZ tend to have golden sand or black sand even) and I did love our picnic. It was a proper cooked lunch as our guide had brought a gas bottle and it was truly delicious and such a pretty setting - very lush with a little stream effect (i.e. what was left of the high tide). I loved it... and I soon gained my appetite back ... thankfully.
We then set off for a 2 hour hike around the tropical forest but what the brochure had failed to mention is that the trek was actually 7 kms long and that we had to catch a commercial boat at exactly 4.15pm and couldn't afford to miss it (probably the last one of the day, knowing NZ and its obsession with closing everything far too early).
So, instead of the leisurely walk that we had pictured, we actually ended up being marched down this beautiful trek at some mad speed and, to make matters worse, it started to rain and we all got quite wet and miserable. We did tell our guide that this was NOT what we wanted as we had NO time at all to take photos, drink water, tie up our shoe laces, or whatever, such was the pace, but all she'd say was like 'oh, ok, cool, well, we can slow down a bit, but not too much as we do have to make the boat'... I was sooo tired (not having been able to keep anything down the day before) that Janet kindly offered to carry most of my belongings, incl. a heavy beach towel we'd borrowed from the hotel, my rucksack, my camera bag, etc. poor thing, she looked like a donkey. She was SO thoughtful really... and I still struggled to keep up as I am so unfit. And on a few occasions I made a point to STOP and take a photo anyway... I thought 'I've had to work quite hard to pay for this trip, it did cost a lot of money ($215, eeek), I will never walk this trek again and I want to remember the best bits'. But the views that should have been stunning and stretching for miles were heavily affected by the drizzle... it was such a shame. I could have cried with frustration. We even walked over a beautiful swing bridge and it would have been an incredible view on each side, but because the light was so low, both my cameras really struggled to take any decent shots. You should have seen me dressed up with my fleece, scarf, and umbrella.... not the holiday picture you dream of really. But boy, was I glad I had everything with me...
We did make the taxi boat, just... and then we got cold even more being on the water taxi. Janet let me have a hot shower first, to warm up (she's such a treasure and so mumsy :), and then we had an early dinner and both went to bed by 9pm. We were shattered. Physically exhausted really. My feet were throbbing and my knee was starting to hurt. Just plain crazy. No wonder that estimations for hikes in NZ are way out for us.. The NZ estimates must be based on 20 something kids who love adventure and sports and are super fit and do these hikes for sports more than leisure. But I'm 44, Janet is 50, and this is not what we had in mind at all. In hindsight, we would not have bothered... the bit we didn't enjoy (the kayaking) was twice as long as we needed it to be, and the bit we did enjoy (the beautiful hike) was twice as short as we would have liked it to be. But 'hindsight is a wonderful thing', hey?.... as we all know so well.
posted by Sylvie at 12:16 AM
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