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Nelson definitely has to be one of the highlights of the trip to date!!
We arrived in the lovely little town of Nelson on the edge of the Abel Tasman national park mid afternoon. another 'quick' call to the kiwi experience office and we had officially been coaxed by the lads on our bus into a 2 day kayaking/trekking bonanza! A quick stop off at the supermarket to get supplies...wine, wine, and err...wine?? 2 hours, a shower, and hostel meal later, we were all packed up and ready to set off at 7 in the morning.
It took about an hour to get to the national park..mountainous and stunning..the norm for NZ scenery, as we have constantly mentioned. We must sound really boring and ungrateful in this blog. 'another mountain, another river...more rivers, more trees...lardy da, bla bla bla'...But really, it never gets boring. Though we fear that our pictures might. Random mountains and forests. We have so many photo's that we're starting to get confused!
So yeh, we got there, paid, and got into the water taxi which took the 15 of us to the beginning of the 7 hour trek path. Which Nic did barefooted I might add! ha! Invigorating. It did include walks on beaches and things too! We basically had all day to do the walk, and we had our packed lunches with us. Though we all seemed to just trade random foodstuffs, and we personally mainly ate scraps of Jack's salami that he carried all day.
At one of MANY breaks along the way, we found a gorgeous little cove, where we put face paint on each other. This then lead to many strange looks from people along the walk (though this was perhaps also because Anna and some of the guys sang bohemian Rapsody and other such songs along the way, in funny little squeaky voices). Oh what I wouldnt have done for a pair of ear plugs! lol...When we got to the campsite we realised that it was really hard to wash off!! Nic's Johnson's baby wipes to the rescue....
Oh yeah, guess who also walked slap bang into a MASSIVE tree that had fallen across the path (hit me right on the forehead and made the biggest banging noise ever, that echoed around!) Only Nic of course. It actually didnt hurt though, suprisingly. Caused lots of amusement though, especially to Cat the Danish girl, who was right behind me...and who, if it wasnt for me going straight into it, would have done it herself.
Campsite banter! We had a massive fire and everything. Though we got bitten to death we had an amazing night all the same. Mostly around the camp fire, with an interlude of star-gazing on the beach as we got louder and louder. The rest of the people at the camp site were probably cursing us. We even had a 'sing-off' with a group of NZ OAP's who were camping near us. They heard us singing and we persuaded them to sing something in return.
Bright and early the next morning we waited on the gorgeous beach for the kayaking people to bring our kayaks, and put us into groups for the 18km journey! Nic was put into a kayak with Ben, a chirpy little ginger guy from Bath. He was such a keeno....constantly ignoring our guide and kayaking off with her! Her steering of the bright yellow vessel was appalling and he only took her out to sea once they had stopped going in circles near the shore front! embarassing! He rowed like a viking, not giving Nic a chance!..he certainly didnt take our hangovers into account.lol. He was a really nice guy though, honest!
We were probably the laziest group all in all though. We mostly rafted up our 4 kayaks together and put the sail up. Nic fell asleep whilst we were sailing, and Anna was nearly sick over the side of the kayak - what a pair!!! Our guide, Jimmy, from mighty England! - kept us entertained the whole day, and even came out for a few drinks that night (st patricks day)! We made stop offs at some of the beaches on the way back - welcome breaks for our weary heads...and stomachs!! We're probably making this sound like a bad day?! ha! No, really, it was fantastic. We saw seals and stingrays. Unlike the guys in the other groups, we didnt capsize either, which is always a bonus.
We also got some photo's of the infamous split apple rock. Admittedly though, neither of us had even heard of it! - what terrible tourists we are! We are nothing without a Lonely Planet guide under our arms. We just smiled, nodded and took photo's of it when Jimmy pointed it out. eeek!
St Patricks Day festivities that night. Nuff said. Tired!!
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