I'm back in Nelson again, but I spent the past couple nights at Abel Tasman National Park. This is one of the most popular backpacking trails in New Zealand. It's a three to four day hike on the coast with some awesome views of jungle and beach. I signed up for a catered kayak trip to a marine reserve and got to swim around in the freezing water. We had some close encounters with seals that slipped into the water to check us out. It was pretty amazing to be a few feet from them. It was a pretty small group of us (four tandem kayaks). The conditions were perfect. It was really glassy in the morning, and in the afternoon the wind picked up, so we formed a flotilla and put up a sail and held on tightly and sailed into our cove. We had a couple races and our boat won. It didn't hurt that my navigator (steering with pedals) was actually a Canadian from Newfoundland with a season of sea-kayak guiding under her belt.
I got to stay on a houseboat with some guests. It was so different from the Whitsundays, in Australia. We had a nice BBQ and then settled in with warm drinks on the deck talking to Danes, Swiss Germans, Dutch, and a Canadian. It was nice and cool at night so we bundled up below decks under the comforters.
Today I hiked to a couple sights and then on my way out of the park.
Tomorrow I head to Picton and hopefully spend a few nights on the Queen Charlotte Track.
1 comment:
Hey Eric,
It's pretty amazing to read about all of your adventures! I bet you are having a blast, and the pictures are amazing. Christy, Scott and I miss seeing you, and hope to catch you on your next visit to california. I really miss hangin out and talkin about stuff. Hope the rest of your trip goes well. later bro....Chihiro
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