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| Views from Abel Tasman National Park. |
This weekend a group of 12 of us headed to Abel Tasman National Park. Abel Tasman is located on the northern part of the South Island which meant we didn't have to fly over. Instead we were able to take the Cook Strait Ferry. While this was convenient, and cheaper, we ended up taking the 2:30am ferry on Friday morning. Since we were planning to kayak Abel Tasman, we needed to be there pretty early to get going. I ended up going to sleep at 8pm on Thursday night so that I could be functional enough to wake up at 12:30am to catch the ferry ride.
We arrived in Picton at 6am to pick up our rental car which thankfully went smoothly after the last 2 weekends of rental car issues. Since I had slept some, I did the 2 1/2 hour drive to Marahau while the rest of the car slept before the long day we had before us. Our group of 12 had booked 6 double kayaks for a 2 day solo trip through Abel Tasman. The way the company suggests the trip be done is to kayak to Anchorage, camp there for the night, then continue north to Onetahuti, and take the water taxi back to Marahau the next day. When I looked at the campsites, Anchorage was already
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| Squad kayaking through the ocean. |
booked meaning we would have to travel farther north, closer to Onetahuti, to Bark Bay to get a campsite for the night. This meant our first day of kayaking was about 20 km long. Fortunately, when you're in a place as beautiful as Abel Tasman, the kilometers just fly by. We really made quite the picture with a fleet of 6 kayaks playing loud music moving up the coast.
By the time we arrived at the campsite, I think everyone was pretty exhausted. It's hard for me to say since I passed out in one of the tents as soon as we set them up. After a much needed 3 hour nap, I
joined our group on the beach under the stars. While the stars couldn't match up to last weekend's, there is still something surreal about being in a place with your friends that is completely inaccessible by car.
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| Our beautiful Bark Bay campsite at high tide. |
Since we had kayaked so far the first day, the second day we didn't put any pressure on ourselves to wake up early and get moving. That gave me time to take some pictures of beautiful campsite. Looking back now I find it hard to believe I went from my city life in Atlanta to camping on such a beautiful, untouched beach. Once we got moving (and it did take awhile), we kayaked back south a little to Sandfly Beach. At high tide, kayaks can go up from the ocean into the river and explore more which was really cool to experience. From there we turned around and went north again towards Onetahuti where the water taxi would pick us up. Despite the decrease in kayaking distance, the wind was a lot stronger the second day and we were kayaking against it. By the time we got to Onetahuti, most of group was exhausted. Two of the kayaks still somehow had energy and continued a little farther north to explore, but the rest of us stopped at the nearby Tonga Quarry Beach to eat lunch and do some relaxing. Laying out on the rocks in the sun was exactly what was needed after two long days of kayaking. Despite the hole in the ozone, I've made it the entire time in New Zealand without a major sunburn until we laid out on the beach. I've got a few sunburns now, but the experience was beyond worth it.
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| Kayaking through the river at Sandfly Beach. |
After we took the water taxi back to kayak place, we got our first showers in 2 days. Washing off all that salt and taming the afro of curls that was my hair was a pretty wonderful experience just on its own. Afterwards, we went to a food truck-esque restaurant that the kayak rental place suggested called the Fat Tui (a tui is New Zealand bird). I had some fish and chips there that blew the pb&j's I'd been eating for the past two days out of the water.
Post food, my car headed to our Momorangi Campground which is about 30 minutes outside of Picton making it easier for us to catch the ferry the next morning. One of the other two cars was planning on taking a later ferry and stayed closer to Marahau in a cool campsite called the Barn. The final car was also going to the Momorangi Campground, but they somehow still had energy and wanted to hang out at the Barn for a little bit before the drive back towards Picton. Since we had to be up at 6am the next morning to catch our ferry, my car set up camp at soon as we got to Momorangi and all fell asleep to the sound of a stream next to our campsite.
Our last hurdle for the trip was getting the morning ferry which we made right as the shuttle bus was
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| A sunrise captured by someone more willing to wake up than me. |
leaving. With perfect timing, we hopped on our ferry back and headed back to Wellington. This weekend was a little tamer than last weekend to say the least, but it was filled with beautiful sights and fun times. This was the last weekend that I get to travel in New Zealand which made it a little bittersweet, but I am beyond thankful for the 6 weeks I've had here to see this country and all it has to offer. I feel like I could spend so much more time here and still not uncover all the secrets of this stunning country. This coming week is finals weeks here in Wellington and then it's on to Australia. Thanks New Zealand for the great times! Glad to say we made it.
~S
