Christmas Break (Day 3)

So we arrived the previous night at the Holiday Park around 9 PM. They had screwed up our reservations, but luckily the staff were not too drunk (apparently Christmas day is a big drinking day in NZ) and were able to sort us out. We got one of the bunk rooms. Didn't do too much after we arrived. Dan and I just cooked up some sausages on the grill (I brought my grill on the trip with us), had a beer and a Dark 'N Stormy (a drink Dan had before and recommended due to the readily available ginger beer here - not bad), then went to bed.

I set my alarm for the ridiculous time of 3:50 AM as we had to catch the 5:50 AM ferry to Picton and had to arrive one hour before departure time. It was tough getting up, but we made it with time to spare. The ferry ride from Wellington (North Island) to Picton (South Island) is about 3 hours long. It takes you across the Cook Strait through some really beautiful landscape when crossing the Sounds. We arrived in Picton around 9:00 then headed to the town of Marahau to pick up our kayaks to start our trip through Abel Tasman National Park. Abel Tasman National Park is number 5 on the list of 101 must-do things in NZ that I referenced in a previous entry.

We arrived in Marahau a little early for our 1:30 training on the use of the Kayaks from the Ocean River Kayak Company. This company allows people to rent kayaks on their own as opposed to going on a guided tour - we decided to do this so we could stop off anywhere we wanted and not have to stick in a group the whole time. Since we were early, we went to grab a bite to eat at some sort of hippy stand near-by. I don't know if it was just the area of NZ we were in or if most of the south island is like this, but there were a LOT of hippyish people around. I got a burger and Dan got fish & chips that didn't sit too well with him. Everything is slower on the south island much like in the south of the US, so our lunch ended up taking 1.5 hours which almost made us late for the kayaks. Luckily, nobody has much concept of time around here so although we were frantically going through our stuff to pack in the kayaks, we were still ready "on time". In our 2-man kayak, we were able to fit everything we needed in the waterproof compartments - a tent, sleeping bags, food, lawn chairs, and more.

The weather was beautiful - actually getting a bit hot. We had to keep applying sunscreen since there is not much of an ozone layer down here and the sun, even when temperatures are in the mid-70s, makes it very hot.

We had a 2-hour training session then boarded a tractor kitted out with kayak holders down to the beach. When we hit the beach it was very windy. In fact, it was so windy that the water was pretty rough and we weren't sure if we would be able to go out. We decided to give it a try as the kayak instructor was going to help us get started. Unfortunately, the wind was so strong that we couldn't get the kayak straightened out and the instructor said it was probably not safe to go out that afternoon.

We were disappointed, but it ended up being a really nice evening and the people at the kayak place told us about a secret camping spot along the beach that the company owns and we could stay at for free that night. Then we would be able to head out first thing in the morning when the winds died down and would not have to go through the training session again. So we set up camp, explored the beach a bit, made some delicious chili on the grill for dinner and headed to bed. It was pretty cool camping right by the beach without a bunch of people around and the weather (while windy) was still great.

View from the Ferry ride between Wellington and Picton

Me and Dan overlooking the Queen Charlotte Sound

Tent site for the night - right on the beach with nobody else around

View of the beach from our tent site

Sandbar right by our campground

View into the mountains from the sandbar

My attempt at an artistic shot

One of the many strange birds around the area

Beach by the tent site

Cooking up some chili on the grill