NZ South Island – Abel Tasman – Two Minds Travel Alike

Hello readers! We woke up much earlier than usual this morning as we had a full day activity planned and needed to drive an hour to get there. We left Nelson and embarked on the hour long drive to a place called Kaiteriteri (translation: Food quickly quickly). Kaiteriteri is located on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park. We love national parks because they are often the best places for nature in any country and we always endeavour to visit them when travelling.

Today we were going on a kayak/cruise/walk tour. The first portion of this is the kayaking. We met the guides and walked down to the beach, got all of our gear on and got onto the water. They were double kayaks so we were able to share. Ronnie was the skipper and controlled the rudder and Aimee was the navigator. It was a nice leisurely kayak around a few bays. We spent time talking to the guides whose were heaps nice and learning facts about the national park and the area.

We eventually come to Split Apple Rock which is the main feature of the paddle. It is a large boulder that is seemingly in the middle of the lake that looks like someone has cut it in half. A really unique and cool natural landmark.

After this we paddled all the way back. This took a little bit over 2 hours and was great. There is something that is so calming and peaceful about kayaking. Even though you’re getting good exercise and it is physically demanding, it is so nice. When we got back to the beach we walked back up to the centre where they had our lunch waiting for us. It was a home packed lunch of a ham salad sandwich, banana bread, apple and chocolate. It went down a treat! There was a duck that wouldn’t leave Aimee alone and kept biting her to try and get some lunch.

After lunch it was time to get on the boat. This boat was fortunately a lot bigger than the other days and was travelling on nearly still ocean. There were only 6 people on such a large boat too which was nice. We pretty much had it to ourselves. The boat took us up the coast and also gave us information about the national park. We pulled in at Anchorage Bay. We had two hours at Anchorage and there was a hike that goes all the way around the headland that lasts for about 1.5 hours. We got straight into that.

The hike was a good incline at the start through some vegetation (mostly Manuka trees) which eventuated at the top of the headland for some very nice views before heading down the other side and past an absolutely stunning beach. We wish we could’ve spent some time at this beach because it was fantastic. We ended up back at the pickup beach a little early and spent some time taking pictures and playing with these fat birds.

After the hike we got back onto the boat to head back to the car. The boat went via a seal colony which was cool. This time we were on top of the boat and we got unexpectedly splashed by the water which was unexpected and funny. When we got back to the beach the tide had come in so the boat couldn’t drop us on the sand. We had to step off the platform into the water and walked up the beach which was fun. We went past a rock that had millions of little mussels growing on it. It was pretty amazing to see.

It was about 5pm by this time and we were pretty exhausted. We drove back into Nelson and instead of heading to a restaurant or something we just grabbed some KFC. You know how sometimes you just need a dirty KFC feed? Yeah, this was one of those times. It went down well. They serve their drinks as post-mixes which differs from Australia and they also have coke. They stinge you on zinger boxes though by only including 2 wicked wings instead of the usual 3!