Abel Tasman & Sea Kayaking

We got the Stray Bus and met our driver - Princess. We were heading to the Abel Tasman National Park. We stopped at a winery and tasted some of their produce (but they were very stingy with what they gave us!) We got chatting to some of our fellow Stray Bus-ers - Ian, Sam & Rob.

Back on the bus, Princess tried to get people talking to each other and we played Speed Dating (with the people on the outside of the bus having to move back a row each time). I got chatting to Dermot who was sitting behind me & Kate. The Speed Dating was a bit of a failure with about 5 people taking part! I also spent 2 rounds chatting with Dermot (as he is off to South America next)!

That night, we stayed at Old MacDonald's Farm. They even had llamas there! Over dinner, we met a few more people - Henrik, Jon & Lucy.

The next morning (while most people were on the booze cruise!), Kate & I went sea kayaking. We spent half an hour learning how to row, launch the boat, land the boat and what to do if we capsize! We put on our 'skirts', shoes and life jackets and set off to the beach. We began rowing towards Fisherman Island which took us about an hour to row to. Kate was at the front, setting the speed and I was at the back with the steering! I had just about got the hang of it (although sometimes I did steer the wrong way!)

We stopped at Fisherman Island for a mid-morning tea break (which was a cup of tea and a piece of chocolate cake!!) We then headed off around Adele's Island. Here we saw a seal eating an octopus - it was thrashing its head around to rip off the legs and eating them whole. As we were in the kayak, we silently rowed towards it to get a better look! We also saw some Blue Penguins and lots of Shags!

We stopped at Te Pukatea Bay for lunch. We had a swim in the crystal blue (and cold!) waters before walking up the cliff to get a brilliant view of the bay. We headed back, which took a few hours and our arms and shoulders ached by the time we landed back on the beach!