Still feeling the waves

Good news, everyone! My passport arrived and I have it IN MY POSSESSION. Now all I have to do is get my work holiday visa transferred to the new number... weee.. But I was able to work for a week and a half in Blenheim on various vineyards, so I earned a little money.

My good friend Virginia arrived two days ago, and we were so happy to see each other! We met up in Picton, rented a car, and immediately drove to Motueka (I have to say V did a great job for her first time on the left side of the road... and these roads are nuts!) so that we could be close by to the Abel Tasman National Park for KAYAKING the next morning! (And at the backpackers in Motueka I ran into some friends from France that had lived in Opotiki with me back in January,also working on kiwi orchards, and they're now working on apple orchards..) On Friday morning V and I drove into the park and got a briefing on how to work the kayak, what to do if you capsize, getting out etc., and soon we were practicing in the water. We had to wear life jackets at all times on the water, and got to wear these really silly "skirts" made of wetsuit material that have elastic all around the sides so that when you sit in the hull the skirt acts as a barrier between your legs and the sea. I felt like half a person when it was all suited up, because you can only see your torso sticking out of the kayak!

There are several ways you can kayak the park, but we got dropped off up the coast and then we had two days to paddle back down to the starting point. There were these tractors that actually drive the boats with you and your kayaks into the water- so it was really hilarious that the tractors are driving around in the sea- and then the 'aqua taxi' dropped us off up the coast. We ate lunch, packed up the kayaks, and started our sea kayaking adventure. We first went to see Tonga Island off the coast, where there were these baby seals sunbathing on the rocks awwwww! The island itself was pretty cool- huge trees and ferns sticking out of massive granite bedrock. And the water was literally this turquoise color and super clear in a lot of places. Could see right into the bottom at sea stars hanging out on the rocks. We wanted to watch the seals forever but felt there was lots of the coast to see, so we moved on. We were really impressed by the coast line, it was unlike anything I'd seen even here in New Zealand- towering mountians covered in tons of different green trees right next to sheltered beaches. And the whole coast was speckled with these beaches. Really amazing. We were sitting out there going "Oooh pretty! That looks awesome! Caves, let's go play!" There was a lot of saying to each other "I can't believe this, it's so gorgeous!"

Our campsite, Mosquito Bay, which has nothing to do with the number of mosquitoes there, was only accessible by kayaking in. It was an awesome choice because it meant the beach was all the more secluded! We ducked in early because the wind was crazy, and played along the beach for the rest of the afternoon. And we saw a HUGE stingray swimming along the shore! I don't think I've seen one in the ocean before, so it was pretty surreal.
The difference between high and low tide was pretty significant too, the beach was hardly recognizable this morning. We came in at low tide and had to carry our kayak up the beach (we had help, it was sooo heavy with our stuff in it.. we could barely drag it ashore sometimes) but then this morning the water was right there so we just pushed off and went to check out the lagoons that form during high tide. It was really cool, the lagoon looked like something out of the amazon with all the strange trees and calm water. We went under a swingbridge and saw a crazy bird diving into the water over and over, it looked like he was having a great time.

That was the last of the calm water, the kayaking got really tough because the wind was RIDICULOUS. There were multiple times when we were rowing as hard as we could but felt like we didn't go anywhere. Definitely feeling the soreness. We had to stop many times for rests and when the wind is blowing right into you sometimes there's nothing you can do but wait a little while for it to die down. We wanted to go into another lagoon during high tide, but the wind was crazy ("I thought lagoons were supposed to be sheltered!") so we ditched it and found another small beach to have lunch on and played in one of the small caves before thinking, geez, we may not make it back down the coast in time for pick up if the wind keeps up. So we did a mad dash around the "mad mile" where the wind is always insane, and got through it surprisingly quickly. We finally made it to shore with much struggle because the wind was blowing right into us for a long time. We ate celebratory muesli bars and waited for the return tractor taxi back while the wind gave other kayakers a struggle...

I've discovered I'm sunburned on one little strip of my neck but other than that I am exhausted and elated that I got to see part of Abel Tasman! Though I didn't walk really any of it I still think it was incredibly beautiful and we saw it in such a cool way. We're headed to the Franz Joseph glaciers tomorrow for a half day hike on Monday... Then we're thinking Queenstown and a bus ride/boat tour of Milford Sound by Wednesday! I'm really happy to be with Virginia who is a big explorer at heart, so I think this is going to be a lot of fun. Of course I'll have to get back to the grind in about a week, but for now I'm just enjoying this time with her before she leaves. Until next time, remember to drink your water...