Abel Tasman Easter 2007
Anjuli Burrell
The sky was an intense blue with no clouds in sight and the trees on the cliff, a great example of New Zealand’s native bush. The water in front of me was calm, a tranquil blue, enclosed by interesting rock formations as I drifted in to what we nick-named The Paddling Pool. As I turned around to check where the others had blown, a seal popped up beside me, looking like he wanted to take a chunk out of my paddle. All around us were about 30 or so seal pups, playing with each other, jumping around, swimming backstroke, doing handstands and investigating the kayaks. Easter bunny had joined us for our Easter trip to the Abel Tasman National Park – for a while there it looked like he was going to become seal bait as the seals tried climbing on to the front of Diane’s kayak where Easter bunny was having a ride.
We left Wellington in the very early hours of Good Friday, catching the ferry to Picton, and then driving to Nelson for breakfast before continuing on to Marahau to start our trip. The lack of sleep meant it felt like we didn’t get on the water until mid afternoon, but after a final real coffee and checking our watches again, we left Marahau at about 11am. A short stop at Apple Tree bay for lunch, and then with a slightly increased head wind and a small swell we paddled to The Anchorage, our campsite for the first night. The sun went down and by about 7pm we were all in our tents sleeping.
The next day came, and with it a change of plans. One of our group was sick, so Andy stayed behind, to look after Liz, and commandeer the fireplace for our return. The rest of us left about 10am – for a day trip this time. We explored all the bays and the coastline on our way, stopping at Bark Bay for a snack and a leg stretch, before continuing on to our day’s destination, Tonga Island. It was here we found The Paddling Pool. We could have spent all afternoon here watching the seal pups play. Eventually we dragged ourselves away and headed for Tonga Quarry, where we stopped for lunch. Our trip back to The Anchorage was great, with following seas and a tail wind. Once back at The Anchorage, I dragged Andy out on the water (as if he would complain at the opportunity) so I could practice wet exits and rescues. This was followed by Andy serving us all pancakes made over the fire – with a finely crafted wooden whisk, and a perfected flipping technique, the pancakes were quite a luxury at the end of a long days paddling. With a campfire and marshmallows we all managed to stay up a bit later tonight before turning in.
We were greeted with heavy rain the next morning, so packing up was done as quick as possible. Liz was much better by now, but not ready to paddle, so we left her at The Anchorage for another day and made our way to our next campsite. Along the way we explored up Falls creek – a very beautiful, peaceful river that runs into a lagoon before meeting the sea. We then headed on to Bark Bay, where we set up camp and hung everything out to dry. After lunch we paddled to Tonga Island again – the seal pups were definitely the draw card here. Again we watched them play for ages, this time they were more inquisitive, with some of them climbing on to our kayaks, and others having their tummies tickled. As the youngest member of our group, 14yr old Caitlin said, “we were close enough to smell the seals burp!!” – the sounds the seals made sounded very much like they had indigestion rather than trying to communicate with each other! Our trip to Tonga Island had been a good work out with another head wind, and a bit of swell – the return trip was a cruise, with all 7 boats rafted up with 2 sails pushing us along, and a supply of chocolate, courtesy of the Easter Bunny.
Another evening spent sitting round a campfire – this time with popcorn made over the fire, and listening to the Rurus calling, and looking for constellations.
Our last full day dawned, and we headed off, this time Andy, Diane and I all Rock Gardening round the coast. We stopped in to The Anchorage for a snack, and to collect Liz, and then headed round the bays, this time Russell & Caitlin in the double and Shelene joined in the Rock Gardening with us, while Ernie continued to try his luck at fishing (not much luck!) and Ria explored the bays ahead. We reached our destination, Observation Bay, in time to hear one of the local Kayak guides telling his group of tourists the Maori legend behind Fisherman and Adele Islands.
After setting up camp, and a few of us braving the water for a swim, 5 of us headed off to circumnavigate Adele Island, with its large collection of Shags, and a few oyster catchers and some seals.
After another night of toasting marshmallows over the campfire, all trying to toast the perfect one, our final day arrived, greeted by the dawn chorus. It was the perfect day, flat water, hot sunshine and blue skies, as we paddled along the coast of Adele Island we stopped to play with a few seal pups we found and then to listen to the amazing bird song that reverberated from the bush – one forgets how loud untouched NZ native bush actually is. A few water fights later and an expedition made by Andy and Russell to roll the double, and we were back packing the trailers, having showers and heading back to Picton to catch the ferry.
It was an awesome first Yakity Yak trip – Thanks to the rest of the group for making it such a great experience.
