Kayaking in Abel Tasman NP

From being snowed in just a week earlier it was a bit of a change to be lying on a beach enjoying the sun. After leaving Wanaka I spent a few days travelling up the West Coast to the Abel Tasman National Park, stopping on the way at Franz Josef to see the glacier. Although one of New Zealnds great walks follows the coast through the Abel Tasman, I decided to have a change from walking and went on a 3 day sea-kayaking trip. Its something I hadn't tried before but would definitely try again. On the first day of the trip there were 6 of us kayaking with our guide Brad. He taught us all the basics then we set off paddleing along the caost for a few hours. It was a perfect day for it, no wind, a calm sea and clear skies so it gave us chance to get used to the kayaking and enjoy the sun. We stopped off at a couple of nice beaches on the way to Anchorage Bay where we camped for the night. Here there was a great beach for sunbathing, swimming and chance to walk part of the great walk track. That evening we found that not only was Brad an experianced kayaker but he was also a good cook. We were expecting normal camping food, dehydrated ready made meals etc but he made a very nice pasta dish and even a pavlova, never had such good food while camping before.

The second day, the wind had picked up and we weren't sure if we were going to be able to go anywhere, but Brad decided we should start out and turn back if it got too bad. It was quite sheltered in the bay but once we got out a bit further the sea was very rough and certainly put our new kayaking skills to the test. After a couple of hours we decided to try and land at Bark Bay, a bit short of the place we had intended to reach. But as we came into land there Brad decided it was too dangerous because of the waves, so we went back down the coast a little way to a more sheltered beach. After stopping there for a bit we decided to try going to Bark Bay again. The sea was stilll very rough but this time we made it. After setting up camp here we decided to try going for an afternoon paddle. Once we had got out of the bay the waves were soon even bigger than earlier, now about 2m high, so this made for a couple of hours of exciting paddling, tiring but very good fun. So despite the weather we had a really good day, even though a lot of other groups we met hadn't managed to do any kayaking at all.

On the third day we had a long days paddleing planned, back to where we had started. Luckily the sea was a bit calmer so we were able to get more than half way back in the morning. We were a bit disappointed not to have been able to paddle as far as the marine reserve the day before, but we were lucky this morning and saw sealions and dolphins. Had a very nice lunch break on an empty beach before having an easy paddle back to the start. So it was a nice end to another really good trip.