Sea kayaking and hiking the Abel Tasman National Park were on the agenda this day. We packed lunches of Nutella sandwiches, pepperoni sticks, cheese sticks and apples and headed on our way. Sand flies are the devil! They bite and leave tiny itchy red bumps. We haven’t encountered any sand flies on the North Island so we were completely caught off-guard. Lucky northerners… Definitely pick up some bug repellent as soon as you arrive on the South Island when you visit New Zealand!
Tandem Kayaking
Our kayaking guide was Beau, a nice guy and funny too. But then I always wondered how many times he had told the same stories and jokes every day. This was my second time kayaking, which confirmed my previous opinion of this activity — exhausting. My arms and shoulders were already sore before the kayaking portion of the tour ended. We paddled to the Split Apple Rock and observed the perfectly halved giant rock in the middle of the water and listened to Beau tell the legend about it. I wish all conflicts can be settled so easily and fairly. (But of course, the rock was actually split by water seeping into a small crack in the boulder, which then froze and expanded during an Ice Age.)
“Legend goes two Maori gods were fighting over the possession of the large boulder. Finally, since neither could win against the other, they split the boulder in half using their godly powers and each claimed half. ” — Origin of the Split Apple Rock
Hiking Anchorage Bay
After kayaking, we had a lunch break and continued with a boat ride to Anchorage Bay for hiking. White sandy beaches formed a perfect crescent around the bay, which was hugged by the freshest shades of green. I wished we had more time to chill on the beach for a couple of hours… Unfortunately, we had a four-hour drive after the hike to get to our next hotel.
During the hike, we saw plants that should have belonged in Jurassic Park, and Sam found a new job holding up a rock.
We stayed at a place where the rooms were all named after animals… go ahead and guess what our room was called…
On a side note, NZ air pumps are so much more advanced than the rusty, ugly ones in the US. And it’s free.
