Finally the "Abel Tasman"

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Monday, January 29, 2007 (Lyell to Motueka)

Feel the "GREEN RUSH"!!

Morning seemed to come quick and did it ever cool off last night. Overnighting within all this dense foliage brought the temperature down to 13 ⁰ C inside the campervan! Morning within these canyon walls is spectacular…minus the bugs, holy shit man the sand flies are thick and relentless! Also got our first experience with the “Who Who bugs”, noisy large and ugly! After walking around and exploring our surroundings (reading all the plaques and signage), we have realized that what is now the Lyell campsite was a thriving mining community back in the mid to late 1800’s. The thick foliage of the area has completely overgrown any visible signs of what used to be a community of six hotels, jailhouse, banks, post office, blacksmiths etc! All that remains is a walking trail that leads to the old Lyell cemetery and the mine entrance. After a quick check on the boys (still sleeping as it is not even 8am yet), and an entertaining chat with our next door neighbours (Dave and Janet), the three of us decided that the lure of the Lyell cemetery only being a short 10 minute walk into the forest was too much to pass up! Oh ya Janet refused to step outside of their caravan due too the local inhabitants!

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Stopped for breakfast, fuel and a quick vacuuming of the campervan in Murchison At approx. 1pm and 200 km’s later we arrived at our destination the Motueka Top Ten Holiday Park located 15 km’s from the entrance of the “Abel Tasman Conservatory Park”. After settling in we managed to get the boys through a few math lessons & worksheets, as they were unable to rent these cool little peddle bike dune buggies until they completed some schooling... whatever works! With the boys occupied Jacqueline and I walked into town where we rented a car then purchased a tent for the boys (more us then the boys!), and a temporary awning for the campervan. Spent the rest of the evening inside the RV (pouring rain), playing cards & watching a local TV program on the “Abel Tasman” area.

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Tuesday, January 30, 2007 ( Motueka / Abel Tasman)

Got ‘a like those days where all you want to do is NOTHING! That sum’s up today, 3-4 hours of schooling for the boys, I managed to sneak away to the internet room & got caught up with downloading the camera to my laptop then uploading to our travel blog. Played on the “Jumping Pillow” at the park with the boys, turned the campervan around to get a better wind break and fill up the campervans (motor home) water tank. Set up our temporary awning off the campervan and then set up the tent for the boys. Huge hit with the boys, now it feels like we are camping! We look like the Clampets with our blue plastic awning strapped to the campervan, much more comfortable! The boys invited Daniel and Ashley to watch a movie in their tent (they are eating up having there own space)…so are Mom and Dad! Our card game was interrupted by a visit from Daniels parents; who are locals here on holidays from Christchurch. We had a pleasant visit with them both for the better part of 2 hrs. Finished my journaling then lights out, think I may have gotten into the “Stoneliegh” a little heavier than anticipated…

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Wednesday, January 31, 2007 ( Motueka / Abel Tasman)

Rough start this morning getting the boys on track with their curriculum, however, once we split them up (Jacqueline & Wyatt concentrated on Math) and (Jesse & myself worked on LA)…attitude changed and lessons went well, also helps when they have met friends and are not aloud to spend time with them until school is done for the day. We spent the afternoon at the top rated beach in all of NZ, Kaiteriteri beach. Amazing beach covered in golden sand that stretches out for miles across the picturesque Kaiteriteri bay, where there is waterskiing, tubing, swimming and sea kayaking activities all going on within close proximity of one another?!. The tide was out & we explored the waters edge. After some beach time we drove 6 miles north to Marahau, where our “sea kayak” adventure will launch from this Friday morning. Jacqueline once again is continuing to do the rental car driving (I believe she has a new appreciation for negotiating a campervan in and around the highways and streets of NZ!). Upon our return Jacqueline and I decided to let the kids fend for themselves for supper & we walked into Motueka for a date night; Thai dinner. We had a fantastic supper with great conversation and a leisurely walk home. The boys where requested by Daniel & Ashley to spend the night at there cabin for a “sleep over”… we where quick to accept for them!!!

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Thursday, February 1^st 2007 ( Motueka / Abel Tasman)

Might have to re-think those sleep-over nights, it is now 12:30pm and we are STRUGGLING to get the boys focused on their curriculum instead of the constant borauge of wanking (New Zealand for complaining)! I’m sure that there was more visiting and movie watching going on than sleeping! Not much happening today as the majority of the day was cold and rainy.

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Friday, February 2^nd 2007 ( Sea Kayaking the Abel Tasman)

Last night was one of those too excited to sleep nights, morning could not come quick enough for me. It’s 7am time to go SEA KAYAKING!! Another one for the record books, each & every moment of the day gradually got better than the other. Our adventure started at 8am as we arrived at the Abel Tasman – Wilson Experience Kayak Adventure main office in the small sea side Hamlet of M??? where we were introduced to our guide Darryl. I knew we were in for a particularly great adventure when we were informed that Darryl was one of the most experienced kayaking guides in the area. Turns out that Darryl’s 18 years of experience didn’t let us down! We certainly received the full meal deal as it did not take Darryl long to inform us that we were not on one of those “fluff” tours where we watched the guide do all the work. It was FULL participation for EVERYONE, even the boys were expected to carry Kayaks and lug gear! I most admit they were great & it certainly added to the adventure. Our guided tour took us north up the coast of the Abel Tasman into rivers, tidal surge pools, lagoons and various secluded bays. Darryl was incredible with his “cheeky” humour and extremely informative with his knowledge and history of the areas we were exploring via kayak. I paired up with Jesse & Darryl took on Wyatt as his paddling partner. Jacqueline was paired up with a single fellow adventurer. Both the boys showed great resilience as there were many occasions were my shoulders, arms and back were questioning what I (actually Jacqueline, as she was the one that really wanted to go sea kayaking!), had gotten us into. I was quick to realize just how hard it is to paddle a kayak loaded down with supplies heading into the wind out to the open water! Darryl cooked us a fantastic meal of steamed clams, barbequed veggies, and beef on the beach of secluded “Frenchmen’s Bay”. After lunch we packed up our supplies and headed further north to “SandflyBay”. Ah yes the Sandfly…, we have as of yet to explain just what these little gems are capable of. Thanks to the plentiful Sandfly all our feet & ankles resemble a dart board! It’s not enough for the little blood sucking ba_ t _ rds to leave a welt where they leave their mark they also inject just enough toxins to leave you itch’n & scatch’n yourself almost raw for days afterwards! Jacqueline was quick to say, “not exactly a fair trade.” Anyways were was I, at this point we headed out approx 400m into the Tasman Sea where we circled a small island inhabited by a seal colony. At this point we were all exhausted and much to our delight Darryl informed us that upon forming a raft with our kayaks there was enough wind to rig up a temporary sail and we proceeded to let mother nature power us swiftly back to our starting point approx 5km south. We returned to our starting point T?? Bay at approx. 4:00pm where we once again lugged our gear out of the kayaks then packed our kayaks up the beach. Around 4:45pm our water taxi picked us up and returned us to the town M?? where an old farm tractor with a boat trailer was waiting for us to be trailered back to the Abel Tasman – Wilson Experience Kayak Adventure main office. Boat, people and all we never left the boat during this entire process. Once back at the holiday park the boys & I went for a quick swim, cleaned ourselves up and walked into town with our dinner guests (the girls; Daniel and Ashley and their parents Scott & Tanya), where we arguable had the best East Indian supper that I have ever experienced. After arriving back into the campervan I cannot remember getting undressed for bed I was so exhausted from the day’s events, unbelievable day!!!