Day 18: More Kayaking, and a lift to an amazing hostel

Wednesday 23rd December 

Kayaking near Abel Tasman, then chilling in a forest-hostel with more Germans

Distance: Kayak, 5km, Minibus, 32km

Total Distance  3318km

Today began bright and early with a few hours of kayaking east of the Abel Tasman national park. I ended up in a sea kayak with 1/3 of a wild Swedish trio who were hilarious, to the point that they were nearly better than the kayaking.

The down side to the kayaking was that it was too short. And in the wrong direction. Out west of where we started is the amazingly beautiful Abel Tasman, which includes a marine reserve brimming with life. 

I've been told before, yet had forgotten, not to buy the prepaid vouchers from the Kiwi Experience website. The vouchers ensure you are paid up, occasionally at a discount, to do certain activities. The ones available via the website are not bad, but they are the minimum. There is actually better available when one is on the bus, as well as what is on the vouchers.

Thus, if I did it again, I would have signed up to do a full day in Abel Tasman. Or, had I been with other people, I would have done what the smart people were doing and getting kayaks for a few days, putting gear on them, then going glamping on the various beaches. You can carry far more on a kayak than on your back! Some people had brought everything with them, including their barbecue. But, being solo, I'm not so keen to take to the seas. I don't have gills. Bad things happen at sea, even when just off shore.

After the kayaking I had a different hostel to get to. Being lazy and the kayak crew taking their bus in the same direction, I asked for a lift down the road. To my surprise they took we down the road, then up the long drive to my hostel. Lovely :)

Most of the rest of the day was spent sprawling about the hostel.

I love Budget Hostels here- especially the small ones, they always have so much character.

This one was high in the hills, surrounded by forest, with no signal (but no where here has signal), and with hammocks! I love hammocks.

I alternated half hours of reading and napping for a while, until I was joined by a dasselling German. She smiled at me and I smiled back. I attempted to turn in the hammock to talk to her, but, failing to make it nonchalant I put my head back... and blacked out. Have you ever fallen into such a deep sleep that you lose your balance? I did. An hour later waking up felt like being hauled out of a deep well. Forgetting nonchalant I dizzily made my way back inside. 

After a shower, dinner, and a coffee I felt slightly more human. I was sat in the kitchen about to write a blog entry when a German girl asked me if I wanted to join a small group of random Germans enjoying a pre-Christmas celebration. She'd received a dried mulled wine mix plus spice mix from her grandmother and made some carrot cake. Thus Christmas Eve Eve was spent with 5 Germans, switching between a language I vaguely recognise now and my native tongue, discussing everything from various international Christmas traditions, to German markets in Munich, Edinburgh and Birmingham, to what activities we were all planning for the next few days.

Day 11: Cathedral Cove Kayaking by the Coromandel, and a trip to Hot Water Beach

Wednesday 16th December

Kiwi Experience bus from Auckland to Hot Water Beach, Kayaking around Cathedral Cove and the wee islands, then down to Hot Water Beach to burn our feet on the boiling water coming up through the sand.

Distance: Bus, Auck-Hot Water Beach 174km , Kayak, 6km, minibus, 10km

Total Distance: 2168km

This is my view as a write this in the early morning light of Day 12. Sadly I can't say this is my accommodation- we stayed in the huts- but it's a pleasant view all the same.

Yesterday began slightly early as we left Auckland, followed by a talk from the driver for all of us new guys. We then drove off, through Thames, a small agricultural town next to a river that had reminded Cpt James Cook of the other Thames, and up through the mountains.

On the far side of the mountains lies Hot Water Beach, a place where water descends through cracks in the rocks, down towards a channel of magma, to be boiled before ascending. This marvel of geothermal activity is what the tour came here to see, as did a significant portion of the country, it seems. We went there later in the day to find the place filled with people, each group with its own hot pool dug into the sand. Hence why a small group has gone this morning to see it after the tide had washed away all of the pools. I'm not going because I have a festive cold. And it's 5am. And I'm lazy.

But before all of that happened, yesterday afternoon I went kayaking! This time we were in proper tandem sea kayaks. There were 5 of us plus guide, and as the other 4 were couples I went with the guide. Which would normally be weird, but he has just finished his first year of veterinary school, so we had plenty to talk about. Also his grandfather used to farm the local area, including keeping sheep on a small island in the bay (having to transport the sheep via a small rowing boat), and used to own the tourist destination that is the Cathedral Cove, until he donated it to the Department of Conservation 

We paddled round towards Cathedral Cove with the wind and sea spray in our faces, bobbing over the coastal waves of the Pacific Ocean. On our way we passed through the shallows, running through gaps in the rocks and taking a detour into Lovers' Cave, a small sea cave with a miniature, romantic beach within. 

Cathedral Cove is effectively two beaches, joined by a huge hole in the rock, hence the name. There is a small waterfall and cave on the eastern beach, and a large number of cairns built by tourists on the other. Atop the cliffs hang a myriad of trees, the odd one having crashed into the sand leaving behind the skeleton of a tree on the shore. 

The Cove and cliffs were formed from volcanic debris, including pumice and ash. The Rock is relatively soft, and is steadily being warn away by sea salt having an effect similar to the freeze-thaw effect. As sea water splashes on the rock it deposits droplets containing salt. The salt forms crystals, which expanding, owning gaps in the rock. Over thousands of years this multiplies into an effect that gives he rock a honey comb appearance and forms the caves.

We walked around the cove, meeting up with the rest of the tour group who had walked here. Our guide made us ridiculously good mochas on a travel stove and we planned our next move. Further around the coast is Sting Ray Bay, but it's the wrong season to see them. There are more islands further out, part of the Nature Reserve that makes up the area- New Zealand's oldest and smallest ocean nature reserve. However the wind looked to be picking up so our guide didn't think we'd make it. Instead we could use the sail!

We formed a raft, the central kayak holding us side by side. The outside kayaks each got a corner of the large black sail, the people at the back hoisting it on their paddles. The sail filled with wind, ready to push us forth...and then died. Islands it was!

The sail was packed up and we set off for the closest island. A pair of Canadian girls were struggling with their craft, so the guide and I tied a line to their prow and towed them out to sea. Out on the ocean stood the large edifices of rock, topped by trees, now maintained as nesting sites for birds. We saw a number of cormorants, but no little blue penguins. We paddled through a hole in the rock before heading back to our starting point.

As we left the guide pointed out the shape of the island to us. Hundreds of years ago a chief travelled by canoe through the area. He looked at the island and decided it looked like his nose. In Maori tradition if a feature looks like one of your body parts then it was created for you. Thus, when his tribe agreed that it did look like his nose, he climbed to the top and claimed all that he could see for himself. The terracing of a local hill can still be seen where he build his fortified village.

After kayaking we went to Hot Water Beach, burned our feet, then came back to the hostel for fish n chips, a bottle of local Chardonnay, and some Tim Tams.