Kia ora from Nelson! Just wrapping up my last day here ~ 9 p.m. on Saturday. I spent my day relaxing on the beach - and by relaxing I mean 3 hours sea-kayaking followed by 3 hours of tramping in Abel Tasman National Park. The bus picked me up from my hostel at 7:30, and then it was about an hour ride to Marahau where the base was. Since lunch was provided for me by Kaiteriteri Kayaks, we had to make a special stop just to pick it up.
Then upon arrival we got filtered into our separate groups. In my group were 4 girls from Indianapolis who I had a hard time telling apart (so did our guide). We did the usual kayak briefing beforehand and gearing up, and then loaded the kayaks onto the trailer where it was pulled down to the beach. Since I was by myself I got paired with our beautiful guide Josh (also meaning I still haven't gotten a chance to steer a kayak yet). It was a very calming experience being out on the open water, but also exhausting after a while. Josh did the usual explaining about the islands and wildlife around the area (including "furry gray sausages" a.k.a. New Zealand fur seal). When I was telling him that I had been to NZ before and was coming back for a vacation and told him that I get 2 weeks a year, he was like, "That's it?" =)
So we kayaked around the park, saw some seals and passed through a bird sanctuary, and then Josh had us pull all our kayaks together so that we could pull off our skirts and then all stand up in our kayaks while we were out on the open water still. Then we reached Watering Cove where I separated from the rest of the group to do my own unguided walk through the park. Since everyone else was heading back to base, Josh offered to make some hot chocolate for me, and then whipped out all manner of equipment - mugs, thermoses, cocoa powder, cocoa sprinkles, and what looked like a tiny propane tank to boil the milk! I'm amazed at how much kiwis love their hot chocolate.
I relaxed for a little bit on the beach, but got pestered too much by sandflies, which are these nasty little buggers that plague coastal areas in New Zealand. They're kind of like fruit flies, if fruit flies constantly bit you and left tiny red welts everywhere. So after "relaxing" for a bit, I headed out for my solo walk up the hill. Some gorgeous scenery from up above. The park has a few paths that are inaccessible around high tide (a difference of 5 meters), but the path I was going was low-tide. I walked out for a bit, but then decided to tough it up and get some more exercise and took the high-tide path, and good grief that was some steep tramping. I think I added about 2 hours to my walking time and I had to be super-careful at some areas because there was no railing to prevent the steep drop to a ravine below. The track is crowded during the summer months, but since it's basically winter I didn't run into anyone else walking the same route as me.
I probably would have enjoyed the track better if I didn't speedwalk through a lot of it. I had to get to Torrent Bay by 3:30 since I had a water taxi ride back to Marahau at that time and was paranoid about missing it. The whole track can take 3-5 days, so I picked one of the more scenic sampler areas. It was pretty exhausting. When I finally reached my destination, I finally saw other people, and off in the distance there were 2 guys walking - one of which was buck naked with his backpack on while the other guy was taking pictures. I guess you really can't do that in peak season.
I finally settled down on the beach and started eating my lunch - sandwich, pita wrap, and muffin, but then saw my water taxi arrive so I had to switch shoes, hitch up my pants and wade through the water to get on. Then it was a fast ride back to the base where I started. The driver drove the water taxi right onto the beach, where it was hooked onto a tractor, and then we got pulled by our tractor all the way through the streets back to base. That's definitely one way to get around!
Tomorrow I am getting on the bus again and heading to Christchurch, which I find to be one of the blandest and "lukewarm" cities in New Zealand, but it's near a lot of the pretty mountain areas and I'm looking to do a Lord of the Rings scenic thing with Hassle Free Tours. I'm staying in a hotel for the first time - Hotel SO (www.hotelso.co.nz), which looked so cool and it's less than $40 a night so I couldn't resist.
I'm kind of dreading waking up tomorrow morning and being so sore that it'll hurt to walk around or move in any way. It'll probably still beat sitting in a cube for 12 hours a day.
