After getting up at 4am on Tuesday morning we started driving down to Wellington, 7 hours later we were at the ferry terminal ready to board the interislander ferry to the South Island.
Once over in the South Island we headed over to Nelson ready to start our sea kayaking in Abel Tasman the next day. On Wednesday we got kitted up and hit the water from Marahau - very windy day and only managed 1 hour before our guide suggested we pull into one of the bays - winds picked up and hit about 30 knots, apparently too windy to kayak. Unfortunately the beach we were on had no shelter and we were stranded in the middle of Abel Tasman for the next 7 hours being constantly sand blasted - NOT FUN!! Saw some people attempt to get out into the sea and just ended up capsizing! At 6pm the winds died down enough to start out again, as we kayaked along we saw kayaks abandoned at every beach. We stopped at a beautiful quiet cove and pitched our tents jut off the beach, so it all turned out well in the end.
Thursday (NYE) we awoke to gentle sea breezes and beautiful weather so managed to make up alot of time - headed out along the coast, saw fur seals and penguins. The fur seal decided to play in the water right next to our kayak, really cool. We stopped for lunch at a beautiful bay - who am I kidding, the whole national park is beautiful. After a full day kayaking we stopped in Anchorage where our New Years Eve accommodation was waiting for us - an amazing 13ft catamaran all to ourselves. New Years Eve was spent chilling on the catamaran, drinking plenty of booze and diving in off the boat. Just before midnight we were taken to some caves to see some amazing glowworms and wheta (horrid massive cockroach type things....uuuh) At the turn of midnight we watched some amazing fireworks off a barge in the bay.
On New Years Day we were dropped off at anchorage bay (after our morning swim) and started to walk out the park - took about 6 hours (took a few side tracks) really amazing weather and beautiful views of the park. Once out of Abel Tasman and hobbling from all the blisters we headed back over to nelson for the evening.
Saturday we had a cycle wine tour of Marlborough planned - unfortunately got there later than planned due to accidents in front of us on the roads - but at around 11am we set off on our bikes, 1st stop Cloudy Bay, 6 hours later we had sampled enough wine to make us wobble on the bikes and bought nearly enough wine to last us the year - especially with a case bought for us from Mum and Dad - Thanks. That evening we found a lovely pub down the road to drink more booze and have a nice dinner.
Sunday we headed over to picton to catch the ferry back to Wellington, wasn't a very nice day - very windy and overcast so we spent the afternoon in Te Puia, arguably the best museum in NZ - had a lovely dinner on Cuba street that night. Monday was beautiful weather so we decided to go up Mt Victoria for the views over the city (after a bit of shopping). Then we got Simon on a flight back to Hamilton (he was going back to work) while we headed up North to Tongariro NP.
Tuesday we did the Tongariro crossing, one of the best day walks in the world, stunning! Mum, being a geologist was in her element. An amazing end to the holiday.
So, now the holiday is over and Mum and Dad have left me to head back home. Not to long till our next holiday though - only 2 weeks!!
tough, so, so tough!
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