Sea Kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park

One of the things Nicola most wanted to do in New Zealand was to go kayaking, and what better place (and actually the last possible chance so quite convenient!) than Abel Tasman National Park a mere hour ride from Nelson. We organised to go kayaking via our hostel (Paradiso Accommodation – not bad but considerably better than the Guest House Paradiso from the “Bottom” film starring Rik Mayal) and were picked up at a very early (for us on holiday anyway) 07:00. We drove across to Abel Tasman, picking up two miserable and awkward European travellers who thought they could kayak with their massive rucksacks in tow – idiots – and had a safety talk on arrival.

After getting into the sea and into our two-man kayak, Nicola and I paddled off towards Coquille Bay across the beautiful blue waters. It was great fun but a little tiring on the arms and we stopped for a break on an unnamed little bay (well, we were not aware of the name as none appeared on the map) – now called Bay of Nicola – for a relax after spending 45 minutes paddling across Apple Tree Bay and onto Stilwell Bay.

After a little break where we had some food we paddled across to Adele Island where we didn’t see Adele but we did see fur seals up close. The paddle across took around 30 minutes and we had to watch out for speed boats in the channel but it was a pretty straight forward passage. After checking out the seal population we paddled back and by this time we were really starting to tire. We would have been on the kayak for around three hours at this point. We stopped at Apple Tree Bay and had our lunch before starting our paddle back to where we began – which was around an hour and a half from where we were.

On the way back we realised that the tide had gone out some way so we had to land on shore and drag our kayak some way before it was picked up by the kayak company’s tractor. We walked back to the HQ and as we couldn’t get a lift back for another hour and a half we stopped for a drink at a café before returning and getting a lift back to Nelson. We were knackered on our return and decided to have an early night – which was not helped by the party going on in the hostel. Nevertheless, we were glad it was our final day in a hostel and hopefully we’ll never have to stay at another hostel again. In all, the day was wonderful, loads of fun and the perfect way to send off from New Zealand.