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Hi Everybody!
We have survived our first week in New Zealand so we thought we better update you all on what we've been up to! Our first week has been with the Price Family - Karen (Alex's sister), Andy, Ben and Hannah in Mapua and surroundings.
So what have we done...
Day one (don't worry we won't go through every second of every day!) first stop a local winery for lunch and of course sampling the wine, it would be rude not to. The winery was beautiful and it was only us there so felt really special. We then headed to the wharf which is a jetty where most of the population of Mapua under the age of 10 (and us!) were jumping into the estuary.
The next highlight came the following day when we went to the Mott River to go kayaking and tubing down it. Paul had quite an eventful afternoon and managed to break a rope swing which Karen said would take his weight as she'd seen a fat man swing off it last time she was there! He then didn't fit in the tubes and barely floated down the river so had to swap into a kayak. He then proceeded to capsize twice with Alex coming to the rescue both times! You can't take him anywhere!
We spent the next day having a look around Nelson - really cool town which often gets overlooked when people "do" NZ so well worth a visit if anyone's heading here! Karen and Andy also were kind enough to let us stay in one of their chalets for a couple of nights which have use of a hot tub and pool so we've had a taste of luxury as well!!
Next was Abel Tasman National Park. Karen and Andy lent us their 2 man sea kayak and camping gear and after a brief training session (don't capsize and keep heading north) set us off at Kaiteritiri Beach told us they would pick us up 30km north at the Awaroa inlet the following evening. Given Paul's experience a couple of days earlier and both of our relative inexperience in a kayak we set off with some trepidation. The wind got up a lot on the first afternoon which saw a couple of unscheduled stops (one on some rocks) but we managed to get to our campsite at Te Pukatea Beach - absolutely amazing (apart from the toilets!).
After an average night's sleep for Paul and no sleep (apparently) for Alex we set off for a day's paddling. Luckily there was no wind so the water was manageable for a couple of novice kayakers and we made good progress. The scenery was absolutely stunning and the further north we got the less people we saw. For the last two hours we only saw 1 other kayak! Highlight of the day was definitely a couple of seals who Alex made friends with and who followed us for a bit of the journey. After a good 8 hours of paddling we were happy to see the Price family waiting to pick us up and take us to a bache (like a holiday home) up in Golden Bay with a stunning view over the bay. We stayed here for 2 nights and saw some pretty amazing things. We visited the Wainui Waterfall where Paul went in for all of 15 seconds, whilst Alex very wisely (or being very lame) watched from the sidelines. It was freezing!
After bacon and eggs we headed to Pu Pu Springs (apparently the clearest water in NZ) and via a chocolate shop in Collingwood on to Wharariki Beach. Apparently it was busy, although busy must have a differnent meaning in NZ as we only saw about 10 people on an area the size of Bournemouth beach! After seeing Farewell Spit we headed back home.
We're off to Christchurch in the morning to pick up our camper van and to explore the rest of the south island so had better sign off. Hope this finds everyone well.
Alex & Paul
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