Our adventures took us from Wellington by ferry to Picton on the South Island to pick up our car, a drive to Nelson and then a kayak trip in the Abel Tasman National Park.

The ferry that crosses Cook Strait is is a very large ship that carries people, cars and trucks. It’s a 3-hour crossing and was a bit rough with our rainy and windy weather. Once we got past the open water it calmed down a lot but there were a few people not feeling so well during the crossing.

We got our car and braced ourselves for driving in a mirror image. I’m the driver since I’ve been here longer and had a chance to adjust. It’s all good driving and Karen is a great navigator with constant reminders to Keep Left at every roundabout and turn. Those right hand turns can be tricky along with the single lane bridges.

We made it to Nelson…pouring rain…and checked into our motel but needed to go to a grocery store for some breakfast items before our kayak trip the next day. A grocery store is a grocery store but a shopping cart is a trundler!

The next day was our kayak adventure in the Abel Tasman National Park. We got a shuttle to pick us up since we wanted to avoid the 1-hour(+) drive there in the rain. This area is a bit like the Willamette valley growing grapes, apples, cherries and hops. We arrived in Kaiteriteri, checked in with our guide Sarah and boarded our first shuttle to Admiral Bay. We then shuttled onto a smaller boat that took us to Torrent Bay for the kayak trip. This boat offloaded further out from the shore due to the lowering tide.

We got ourselves set up in the kayaks and off we went. Initially it was pouring rain and we had our rain coats on. The pounding rain on the water looked very cool but taking out a camera was not going to happen. Our kayak group consisted of three 19 year old ‘boys’ (Sarah kept calling to them, “boys, over here! You need to listen and watch and stay together!”), one woman from Japan who was in a kayak with one of the boys, and Karen and me. The farther out we went the rougher the water got with swells about 3 feet or so and Sarah decided not to risk going around the corner since we could see the white caps out there. We were working very hard with our paddles to make our way across the bay. It’s hard to show that it was rough when it’s so lovely.

We came ashore for lunch, rather wet, but it was a nice spot with a picnic table and Sarah brought along a stove to make tea or coffee for anyone who wanted. Yay, tea! There was a flightless bird hanging out with us, a weka.

After lunch we walked around a bit but got back into the kayaks and headed to an estuary. The rain had stopped, skies were pretty clear but the water was still a bit rough unless we were in protected spots. I doubt the videos capture the sense of the waves. Have to be there…

We returned to the launch point and got all the kayaks up from the beach. We got cleaned up and dried off and waited for the shuttle to return and pick us up. There are a lot of people on the shuttles because this company runs many different types of tours including walks through the bush (forest) and combinations of kayaking and hiking. The shuttle makes a few stops along the way to pick up passengers using the handy gang plank to board the boat. We also made a pass by some rocky areas to see some fur seals. We saw them but unless you have a bigger zoom lens, they’re difficult to see. It was a great trip and quite lovely despite the early conditions, as you can see!

Next up: Nelson to Hokitika!