I ended the last entry with a little information on our day in Abel Tasman national park. We did about 6 km of kayaking in strong headwinds, first around A fur seal sanctuary island, then eastward along the coast to a bay where we stopped for lunch and chained into our hiking shoes. We then hiked a similar distance and saw what the headlands and coves looked like from the shore. Our guide, Haya, walked part of the way barefoot. Not something we would have tried. Like all the guides we've had, he was friendly, professional, very informative, fun, and with an interesting story.
We returned to Marahau by water taxi, showered at the Abel Tasman Kayaks facility, and took off to return to Picton. The recommended return route was to avoid the windy coast road and drive west then south to get a straighter road. Peter aquitted himself well on his first driving experience. The roads were almost empty and we had great views of the mountains to the south most of the way.
We arrived at our B&B about 8:15 pm and had another experience of Kiwi friendliness and generosity. Our hostess agreed to wash and dry our clothes that night so we could bring them with us on the Queen Charlotte Track the next morning. Despite saying she wouldn't fold them, they were waiting for us folded in the morning.
We packed the duffel bags the Marlborough Sounds Adventure Company had left for us for the stuff that would be transported by boat between our lodgings. Their van picked us and our stuff up at 8:25 and took us to their office to pick up our lunch, meet our guide, and start on our trip.
Our first day's hike was about 14 km, the second about 11 km plus a trek on a very narrow trail thru virgin bush to a small waterfall. It was good to get a sense of how dense the bush is once you get off the track. We stayed in a different lodge each night. One of the treats was arriving to find our bags already in our rooms. The deal we booked also included dinner each night and breakfast each morning. We met before breakfast each morning to make our lunches from the supplies the company had shipped in that day. The lunches we got on our first morning were in clever little plastic boxes with a large compartment for a sandwich an smaller ones for other foods. the two compartments folded together, the box latched shut, and the food stayed fresh and uncrushed during our day's adventures.
The two days of hiking were great. Lots of interesting views, good stories, birds, plants, etc. The area we hiked through is a national park but with lots of private lands interspersed among the public ones. We saw a few private holiday homes. On the third day, we took a water taxi to our third night's lodging, then got into kayaks and explored Keparu Bay. From the water we could see many more private holiday homes. It was a little disappointing to see that we weren't as far away from the world as we might have hoped, but interesting to see how much private property the park included. We had relatively high winds that day, but we did manage to get to a mussel farm and get 3 mussels from the first 3 feet of the rope which would be crushed anyway when the rope is winched up for harvest. Our guide, Luke, cooked them for our lunch about 20 minutes later, definitely the freshest seafood we're likely to get on the trip.
We kayaked about 6 km our 3rd day. On the final day, we kayaked about 16 km in flat water with no wind. I learned that the German word for the kind of rain we had is nieselregen, or sneeze rain--resembling the droplets you experience when you are sneezed on. The overcast and rain probably contributed to the lack of wind. We saw seals in the water with us, rays, starfish, lots of herring, and lots of seabirds. We definitely felt accomplished by the time we paddled back into Picton.
Today was mostly a rest day. We saw a movie that our guide, Luke, had urged us to watch. It was "When A City Falls," about the earthquakes in Christchurch. It was a more detailed picture of what happened and how people reacted than anything we could have gotten through the news. We also went on a wine tasting tour. Mike drove -- he is diving tomorrow so he can't drink. We found lots of very different and interesting wines.
While Mike is diving tomorrow, Peter, Gerlinde and I are going sailing with our host, Gary. We're hoping for good winds and maybe a little sun, the first we will have had since the day we arrived in Picton. Peter is going to make one of his big salads for us and our hosts and we'll drink the wines we bought today.
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