Magic View Holiday Home Nelson

It was a lovely warm sunny arrival in Nelson, after a quick breeze around town we met with Ali's friend Louise's daughter Jo for a drink and chat. For dinner we settled for local fish and chips, parked up with a view of the sea.

Day 2 in Nelson we topped up the camper supplies and took a hike to the ...

... easy going bunch which was a relief as my misanthropic tendencies are prone to surface at any time and without warning so the less provocation the better! We chugged up the coastline of the Able Tasman national park from the departure point at Kaiteriteri up to Totaranui. Overall it was a two hour ride and about 2 mins in I realised just how much colder the open water was compared to the sun-bathed warmth of the bay. No matter – you can't take pics ...

... we kept up with them and seemed to navigate our kayak through the same narrow sections that they did. We convinced our guide to let us detour from the standard course a bit and venture around a nearby island that had seals. It was beautiful. Humbled, I continue to see such amazing sites down here and feel so lucky to have the chance to experience this. It is almost too spectacular and looking at pictures afterwards just makes me realize how lucky I am ...

... the albatross( i love the way the land on the sea..so cool) and later on, the captain took the hydrogramme to find out if there were some whales in the area. The whales in the area are all sperm whales. We found a first one. They have not named it yet. They seem to give names to the whales as the beasts seem to come back every time. We were given a few facts on whales. Here are two: when they breathe, their ribcage collapses to let the air out of the lungs ...

... a lactose intolerance?!? Next morning we were up for our longest walk, about 28k, and I was worried we wouldn't keep up. Stan's knees had been bothering him by the end of the day before and I just didn't want to be the party pooper, but we need not have bothered. Even when we finished at about 4.30pm I felt as if I could have kept going for another couple of hours and Stan was just fine. I can't describe just how beautiful the place we were staying was - on the ...

... for most of it... ) we get to the South Island. A long drive through Picton, the Malborough vineyards and Nelson gets us to Marahau, in the Abel Tasman National Park. This Park is stunning: beautiful golden sandy beaches, dense forest and hills... I decide to stay 3 days to chill and get walking and sea kayaking. My first day is very gentle: long lay in, breakfast in he sun and gentle 3h walk with Sanne on the coast track to reach Apple tree bay... beautiful!!!... The next ...

... park around 2pm and set up camp. We stayed at Abel Tasman for two nights relaxing, hiking, and enjoying each other's company. Today we packed up and hiked 12km (about 7.5) out of the park and back to Nelson. Altogether, the last week has been very exciting and each day is another adventure and memory. Tomorrow I am waking up at 4:30am to swim with dolphins... I can't wait :) Love you all, keep smiling Andrea. I promise I will put up pictures as soon as possible!!!

So. This is what we call a good plan for Christmas. Spend the eve and Christmas day kayaking, camping and hiking at one of the most impressive and secluded national reserves of the southern island of New Zealand, the Abel Tasman National Park. Having arrived in the area late the previous night after spending a few hours in artistic Wellington and taking the ferry to the southern island, we woke up early in the morning to get our kayaks ...

... had a room all to herself and we had an ensuite bathroom too! Luxury! She was only allowed a short shower though because they don't have much water! The electricity comes from a generator and no-one was allowed to use hairdryers because they would overload the system! Everyone was very nice, but not as quick to get on with as the people we met on the Hollyford Track, they were all a little suspicious of me and were eyeing me in mummy's pocket during dinner ...

... took the road over the Crown Range, stopped for a coffee at the Cardrona Hotel, and approached Wanaka along the Cardrona Valley, which provided a spectacular approach view of the lake. Here I felt the need once again to get on the water. Dorota once again resisted, so I booked up a jet boat ride for one at the excellent Wanaka 'iSite', (which I now realise is not an optician, but a tourist information centre). 30 minutes later I was jet ...