Abel Tasman, April 08
Written by Meghan Glue and Laura Blake
Picture this- ten adults, five kids and a delayed ferry. That was the beginning of our six day trip in the Abel Tasman. After a long, boring ferry ride from Wellington we managed to crawl into shaky bunks at around one in the morning at the Alexandra Holiday Park in Picton. After a long wait for breakie in Nelson, we were off to Marahau and launched before lunch. After discovering that pumps can be used as water guns, the fight was on with everyone getting soaked by Laura and Andy before we’d even reached Fisherman’s Island. After lunch we headed round to Anchorage and settled in for the night. Each day we paddled a bit further up the coast, staying at different places like Bark Bay, Appletree Bay and Tinline Bay. Over these days we did lots of amazing stuff including a paddle round Tonga Island. where we saw LOADS of seals and their babies They were so playful and we were sure they were about to jump onto our kayaks. Every day we explored the coastline and found many small caves that we could paddled into. We had an awesome time with lots of photos taken. There are a lot of great memories from the trip. Such as ‘ACTION MAN’ who led the way on the front of Christine’s and Meghan’s kayak, all five kids trying to stand up on Andy’s double kayak, the Easter egg hunt that showed the kids (and the adults) competitive side and the great talks we had around the campfire. An interesting quote of the day included “where-ever I sit, I break wind” and having one of our party lectured by a foreigner in the appropriate material which can be burnt in the camp fireplace.
On our way back to Marahau, we rafted up and anchored our kayaks in a sheltered bay on Adele Island. We then followed a steep track up to the main ridge where we had panoramic views of Golden Bay.
The weather was superb with no rain and very little wind-except around the campfires. This trip was awesome and the excitement never stopped.
