TravelStream™ news feed for member jessnallie on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jessnallie en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:45:53 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1240116000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1240116000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1240116000/tpod.html Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:45:53 -0400 Jess & Allie's New Zealand Adventure

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Auckland, North Island, New Zealand

Kia ora,

An amazing adventure comes to a conclusion. We have done most everything we hoped to do or see. Now it's the sorting out and cleaning up of everything in our two week home on wheels ("Buddy").

We had actually lived with the "bed made" the entire time of our trip. Each night we would unload the bed of gear in a certain way and then each day we would stack all of our things back on the bed so they would not sling off onto the floor during the drive and generally batten down the hatches. We got in a certain pattern and while things were certainly cozy we made it work. Most of the campsites where we stayed had clean and nicely appointed bathrooms/showers. Also, we did leverage their kitchens a few times as well.

For me (Allison), my favorite portion of the trip was from our arrival on the South Island, then driving through the picturesque vineyards to Nelson and our two days in Abel Tasman. The natural beauty was beyond words and the hiking/kayaking trip and meeting the folks at Torrent Bay lodge was a highlight. Overall, the most special memory of the trip was spending all that time with Jessica and getting to share her joy in experiencing everything and particularly the dolphin swim.

For me (Jessica), my favorite part of the trip was of course swimming with the dolphins and being so close to them was majestic. I also loved going to the Mitai Maori Village and learning about their culture and watching the concert that they put on for visitors. The scenery wasn't that bad to look at either. I would have to agree with Mom that the Abel Tasman National Park is some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen even though it required a little physical exertion.

So, sorting it out by the numbers...

10,000 Sheep and cows seen
3,000 Glow worms viewed in the caves
2,100 Kilometers driven
600 Dolphins swum with
327 Sheep and cows were yelled at out of a moving vehicle
36 Numbe of times Jessica burped loudly
23 Strangers educated to "Say No to Didymo"
14 Days spent in New Zealand
8 Towns visited
6 Traffic cones driven over
1 Absolutely Amazing Adventure!

0 Animals were harmed in the making of this adventure.


We are now sitting in the Auckland airport waiting to board our plane and completing the final entry in our travel blog. As is certainly apparent, we have enjoyed our wonderful trip, and we have enjoyed sharing it with you and all of your comments.

Hei Konā!


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239959520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239959520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239959520/tpod.html Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:17:30 -0400 Jess & Allie's New Zealand Adventure

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Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand

We had really so enjoyed learning about the Maori culture that we looked forward to spending a bit of time at the Te Puia heritage center. It serves as a museum, as well as an institute for teaching traditional Maori art forms. There are also several geysers on the grounds.

As it happened, there was a small tour just starting as we were entering the grounds and we decided to take part.

Our guide was an older Maori woman and we pretty quickly figured out she was something special. She grew up with her tribe in their village in the forest. Yet she was also university educated as well but held onto the traditional ways.

She was able to really provide wonderful explanations of everything but also relate it back to her own life as a child growing up in the area. We learned about the geyser, the mud pools, the uses of the various trees and plants for making clothing, medicines, dyes, etc.

Her stories were interesting, funny and entertaining... you got a glimpse into the real life of the Maori and hers in particular. It felt like quite a privilege to have her as a guide as we walked about the grounds.

We also went and observed the wood carving students as well as the weavers creating garments from their "flax"... a hearty fiber scraped from the back of a local plant.

Having heard from our guide about the various properties of the local mud we purchased some from the gift shop.

We returned "home" (camper van, spot 12) and had a short rest before heading out for a "Zorb".

What is that you ask? Well, it's a New Zealand creation of a very large rubber ball with a inner compartment in which you climb and then the ball is unleashed down a hill.

Jess and I suited up in our swimming costumes (NZ speak for bathing suits) and chose the "wet" option where you are not harnessed inside the ball but left free with a small amount of water to slip and slide inside the inner ball as it all rolls down the hill.

I was a little leery but went for it anyway and had a screaming good time! Jess and I had a blast and she ranks the ride up there with any awesome rollercoaster she's been on. She also had suggested that making Zorb the primary means of transportation would remedy many problems (pollution, high gas prices and obesity). I burst the bubble (no pun intended) by reminding her everything would have to be down hill for it to work.

Back at the park, we sat in a very warm thermal pool and enjoyed warming up and whatever benefits might be gained from the sulphur and other minerals. We wrapped up our "self spa" evening with a mud mask from Rotorua mud and then a nice shower.

Our last night camping is bitter sweet. I think we are both looking forward to our own real beds but not wanting the fun and adventure necessarily to be over...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239959220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239959220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239959220/tpod.html Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:12:08 -0400 Jess & Allie's New Zealand Adventure

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Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand

A bus came to pick us up and take us to the Mitai Maori Village. First we were all seated at our tables and our host introduces himself and tells us about the night. He was a very entertaining and colorful Maori man. He asked about what countries were represented and for each he had a greeting in their native tongue. In our group we had 15 nations represented. From that point forward he called us "The Tribe of Many Nations". Then he had us practice a song that we had to sing to the Mitai chief later that night. Before dinner we went to a number of sites and activities. First we went to see our dinner cooking in the traditional dinner (hangi) cooking method. Then we went down a beautiful wooded path to the river and watched the warriors and the real chief come in a waka (canoe). They were singing and dressed in costume with mokos (tattoos) on their faces and bodies. They would make very aggressive faces by opening their eyes very wide, raising their eyebrows and sticking out their tongues while singing their war song. They were paddling very precisely and to a rhythm to navigate the very narrow and shallow stream.

Then we went to the concert and cultural display. Both Maori men and woman sang, danced, and showed us exercises, weapons, and their culture. The chief explained his moko which incorporated four birds: a bat, parrot, owl, and kiwi. He also had a very extensive moko on his legs and lower torso including his bum. He said it signified water and the lines and curves followed the muscle. It took 55 hours total to complete the entire moko. After the show we returned to eat our dinner of chicken, lamb, sweet potatoes (not yams) and many other side dishes which were all quite delicious. After dinner we went on a bush walk. They showed us native plants, trees, glow worms that lived there, and a sacred natural spring that bubbled thousands of gallons of spring water every day (that we drank at dinner). Part of the reason why the tribe lived in that location was because of that natural spring and it became a large part of their culture.

The whole experience was very fun and educational and I'm glad we chose this tribe because it wasn't very commercial so it seemed more natural. They were very sincere about sharing their lifestyle and culture with us.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239958740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239958740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239958740/tpod.html Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:04:30 -0400 Jess & Allie's New Zealand Adventure

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Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand

Jess here! This morning we got up fairly early to go to the National Aquarium. It was a cute place with very nice placards explaining what every fish was in each exhibit. They had many that were native to New Zealand that was of most interest to me. We got to see many sea horses and found out that they were abundant just off the coast of Napier. They also had very large lobster which they called incorrectly crayfish. They also had that weird grandpa shark (sevengill shark). There was also an exhibit about dinosaurs that were found in New Zealand. No one thought there were any dinosaurs in New Zealand but a housewife thought this wasn't true. So she went digging for many years and found many bones even two skulls. One of which was a large aquatic lizard and the other was of a large swimming dinosaur. She was a self-taught paleontologist and set up shop in her garage. After we left the aquarium we went to Marineland which is a park that now rescues injured marine life like penguins, sea lions, and sea birds. They had a couple of blind sea lions. One of the sea lions that was born there was trained to do cute tricks like blow kisses, shake hands, do a hand stand, and give her trainer a kiss on the lips. They also had a collection of sea gulls, gannets, cormorants, and blue penguins. They had a juvenile gannet that had a broken wing that Mom particularly fell in love with and of course the penguins. The blue penguin is the smallest species of any penguin. I had my picture taken with a special penguin named Alfred. He was blind in his right eye, missing his left, and his beak was completely shattered and misaligned. It made me sad to see him so decrepit but it was comforting to know that he was being well taken care of.

We went into town for lunch and afterwards into a very nice gallery. We made a few special purchases and then got on the road to Rotorua. It was a nicer drive because not as many curves and mountains and a change of scenery now with lots of large dark forests. As we approached Rotorua we saw some steam rising from the land out of geothermal pools. On the way we stopped at Huka Falls. It was a beautiful sight. The river was so powerful and the water was a gorgeous ice blue.

We arrived at the Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park during daylight hours for once and enjoyed a couple of relaxing hours before heading to the Maori concert and dinner we were attending that night. (See next entry for Maori concert and dinner)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239789180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239789180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239789180/tpod.html Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:54:58 -0400 Jess & Allie's New Zealand Adventure

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Napier, North Island, New Zealand

We had one of the few leisurely mornings on our trip so far. First, we took advantage of the nice shower facilities and then further indulged ourselves with a breakfast of toast with Nutella (chocolate/hazelnut crème).

Bread was about to get stale so Jess decided to feed the ducks that had collected around the mysterious lake like puddle that some how formed at the camp site over night (for clues, see prior day's entry)

Before you know it, we had a complete symphony of ducks and birds singing at the van door to be fed.

A couple young children came by intrigued by the cacophony of birds and we handed them the remaining bread and pleaded with them to wander off (taking the brood with them)... but alas they stood there and finished feeding all the bread. The birds stared longingly at us a bit longer but then Jess used some marine biology magic and commanded that they lay down... and they did!

Now for three days Jessica has been looking for a particular pink bra and had not been able to locate it in her luggage or elsewhere. Now granted, we have to constantly shift things about and make due with the space and storage the best we can.

During our


We packed up and headed into down town Wellington to visit the National Museum (Te Papa). We navigated down there rather successfully but the expected parking was full and we were faced with street side parking... I was not looking forward to parallel parking that behemoth but thankfully there were two adjoining spots that I could pull straight into... whew!

The museum was pretty impressive in size and the magnitude and quality of exhibits. We were able to visit 3 or 4 levels and 2-3 exhibits on each. One exhibit included a large display of New Zealand sea life... right up Jessica's alley. She took it as a challenge to name most of them without looking at the signs. She was pretty successful although some of the colloquial names were different.

At our lunch stop we made an important discovery. For three days Jessica has been looking for a particular pink bra and had not been able to locate it in her luggage or elsewhere. Now granted, we have to constantly shift things about and make due with the space and storage the best we can.

As we walked around the side of the van she saw the bra was behind the kitchen counter pressed up against the window. We had been "flying it like a flag" for days. Hopefully was have not caused anyone great offense or started any sort of international incident.

We had a long drive ahead of us to get to Napier to visit the National Aquarium. I was a bit reticent given the winding and tiring drive from Waitomo to Wellington. Thankfully, it was mostly straight and flat but with many small towns to slowly cruise through the 300km still took well over 5 hours.

In that time frame, Jessica had to find ways to entertain herself with such high caliber activities such as rolling down the window and shouting at farm animals: "SHEEP!", "COW!" respectively (as if they needed to be reminded).

Another favorite was to implore the various road workers to "Say No to Didymo".
(You'll have to look that one up yourself... but just let me say it's not a good thing). She will be sporting a bumper sticker to that effect to educate all of South Bend on her return.

Just as we are about to make the final turn into Napier the road was unceremoniously "closed". And no detour signs or anything of that nature one might consider helpful.

The sun had set at this point and so it was difficult to spot signage from a distance so we just took a literal "shot in the dark" attempt to get back in the right direction... and with some excellent navigation from Jess we were back on track.

We arrived at the campsite and backed into our spot (without any incident at all) and then sauntered over to the onsite restaurant for our evening meal.

On the walk back to the camper we both saw a shooting star... another affirmation of how unique and wonderful this adventure has been.



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239745380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239745380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239745380/tpod.html Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:45:43 -0400 Jess & Allie's New Zealand Adventure

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Wellington, North Island, New Zealand

It started out like any ordinary day... if you are on an adventure trip in New Zealand!

A 7:15am date with the whales got us up and moving early. We arrived at the Whale Watch station and checked in then watched an interesting movie as we awaited the time to load up on a bus and head to the marina. We learned a few interesting things about why the Kaikoura area is so rich in sea life. The warm waters from the north and the cold waters from the south (remember, this is the southern hemisphere) come together there.
Also, there is a deep cavern (one of the few in the world) and the convergence of these two water temperatures cause a current and "upwelling" in the cavern. This brings all the nutrient rich material up from the ocean floor attracting the many species and creating an abundant food chain. And in Kaikoura, this cavern is much closer to the shore than usual.

Finally it was time to take the short bus ride to the south bay and board the boat to go in search of whales. We headed out a few miles in the direction that whales were last sited. The captain got out and used a device to listen in the water for the tell-tale clicks (echo location) of the whales. He repeated the process several times narrowing in on the actual location. On the third stop... success! A young male sperm whale breeched in the near distance. We had the chance to observe and take pictures. After about 10 minutes time they alerted us that he was about to breech and Jessica had already explained that at that point we would see him roll up out of the water and extend his tail as he dove. Indeed, he put on a good show!

They tried to locate another whale but where unsuccessful. They did search out and find a large pod of Dusky dolphins. And while we saw them the day before, it was still exhilarating to watch them swim along the bow wave of the boat and there were numerous dolphins (of undetermined gender) flipping and somersaulting in front of us.

We returned to the marina and while waiting for the bus Jess got an up-close experience with Charlie, the marina mascot.

It was then time to hit the road for the ferry back to the north island. We had just enough time to stop and grab a sandwich (chicken, brie and cranberry panini to be specific) on the road and make our check in time.

The ferry crossing was less dramatic this time as we had learned our lesson and quickly located comfortable sitting. Also, the seas were calmer than before.

It was bitter sweet leaving the south island for which we immediately had formed such an affection and have such wonderful memories. Yet, we know there are more experiences awaiting us on our journey.

One of which was completely unexpected...

Allison says:
It was a really long drive from Kaikoura to the ferry (approx. 10,000 km) and even with a brief nap aboard I was understandably exhausted. Driving through the city of Wellington during rush hour traffic only added to the drain upon my brain and left shifting arm (yes, left).

With some difficulty, we located the campsite and secured spot 40. A dark, grassy area with the entrance ramp positioned between the two adjacent lots. Also, the power box was far back on the spot requiring the camper to be backed in...

But first, we had to go locate the dump site to release our grey water and fill in our toilet reservoir. You would think that a clearly designated map and a light at the dump site would be table stakes... but evidently not! But that finally accomplished we headed back to our site to back in and get situated for the night.

Jessica walked back to the site ahead of me with the hose so that it could continue draining and not track any water inside the van (so thoughtful!)

I pull up to the area of site 40 and get ready to back in. Jess is standing off to the side helping to direct me properly onto the site. Now the reverse gear on "buddy" (our camper van) is like a stubborn pack mule. Difficult to get going and not very cooperative. My checkpoint during the drive has been: "if it's not painful, it's not in reverse." It really takes an incredibly skillful driver such as myself to get it to work at all.

Numerous attempts to slowing ease the van back over the curb each resulted in killing the engine. Finally, I had to really give it the gas and mounted the curb and continued backing to get positioned in the spot. Next thing I see is Jessica running forward and smacking the side of the van then, "thunk" and then a strange continual thumping on the top of the van... what the heck?

Jessica says:
While I was outside trying to direct my Mom into the spot it was dark and she couldn't see me saying "Stop!" because she was about to back over the water spigot! I ran over and beat on the van but it was too late. She backed over it and before I knew there was a geyser of water shooting over and onto the van. My Mom had no clue what it was so she just stayed there. At this point, I'm laughing very hard as I run to her window to tell her what was going on. She figured out it was water when she saw it running down the wind shield. She told me later she thought for a moment something was blowing up with flames everywhere. Because all she heard was the repeating sound coming from the van.

She pulled the van away when I told her everything was ok while a huge geyser continued to shoot up making our campsite into a small lake. All she had done was broken a plastic fitting on the pipe attached to the faucet (which was shot about 100 feet away but still in serviceable condition). Damages were $20 NZ and we got a new campsite.

We all had a few good laughs including the neighbors. A good ending to any bad situation.


Well, alls well that ends well and neither the van nor my wallet was worse for the wear. We ate our chicken pot pie and penne pasta and ended the night reminiscing about the exciting activities of the last few days.

Tomorrow, Te Papa, the National Museum of New Zealand and then on to Napier for the National Aquarium.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239606240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239606240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239606240/tpod.html Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:06:21 -0400 Jess & Allie's New Zealand Adventure

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Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand

We arrived in Kaikoura just as the sunset and were first amazed to see the number of fur seals lying upon the rocks at the shoreline. When we finally found a suitable place to pull over, it was a bit too dark however to get a good look.

Also, we were surprised to see the size of the town was a bit larger than expected but we located our planned camp site ("Holiday Park") with relative ease and were pleased to find they had just a couple spots open given all their other accommodations were full.

We settled in and had a light snack with a sense of anticipation about the scheduled event for the next morning - a swim with the dolphins!

At the appointed hour, we got up and ate our morning muesli and headed to the location for the Dolphin Encounter... a well run outfit who efficiently got us into wet suits and gear and on a bus for a short trip around the south end of the peninsula to board boats.

It was a beautiful day with gorgeous blue skies, sunny and no winds making for nice, calm seas. The earlier cruise that day had quickly located a large pod of dolphins so expectations were high for being able to do the same.

Within 15 minutes boat ride, they had us position off the end of the boat to be prepared to quickly slip into the water once stopped. It was thrilling to see dozens and dozens of dorsal fins continually crest the water nearby.

The horn blew and we all jumped in and swam off in the direction of the dolphins.

As they had explained, these were wild Dusky dolphins, not fed or trained in any way. There was no guarantee as to their willingness to stay near or interact in any way. Earlier they had suggested some tactics to attract the dolphin including singing or making noises through your snorkel.

Jessica here:
It was all a bit disorienting at first because you have all these people kicking furiously and "singing" loudly through their snorkels. Some of them were shouting seems like. But nonetheless the dolphins came. You could watch them from above the water as they breached closer and closer to you. But then you could watch them as they swam under you. Sometimes you would be swimming with your head in the water and all of a sudden five or six dolphins would pass right under you. During one of the encounters I was just swimming along trying to get to where the dolphins were. Well I guess they had changed direction and were heading straight for me and I had no idea. All of a sudden I was surrounded by twenty of them, some swimming below and on each side of me. One of the dolphins got so close that it nudged me. I immediately popped my head out of the water and exclaimed "That was awesome!" through my snorkel. It startled me because they told us not to touch the dolphins but it wanted me to touch it. It had swum just right to where my hand ran down its smooth, rubbery body. I remember from my schooling that dolphins form very tight bonds especially through showing affection which is through nudging and touching. That nudge definitely formed an unforgettable memory within me! After the whole experience was over, I felt so privileged to have been able to witness these beautiful creatures in their environment. I also was fortunate enough to bring an underwater camera with me and I am very anxious to see if any of the pictures turned out.

They accommodated us by seeking about 5 opportunities for us to swim with the dolphins. By the end, we were all pretty worn out but very exuberant about interactions we were fortunate to have with these dolphins.

We changed out of wet suits into dry clothes and warmed up with hot chocolate as we were taken to a large rock to see fur seals close up. Great photo opportunities abounded, particularly of the pups just a few months old and still adorable.

Next they took us back again to the pod of dolphins to give all of us the chance to dig out our cameras and take some shots. We were rewarded with some acrobatics by one "show off" (young male no doubt) that was doing spins and flips repeatedly. Again, there were many great opportunities for excellent photos of the dolphins and it was just a matter of how good you were with anticipating their full crest out of the water. Jess and I got a number of wonderful shots.

We returned to the base and explored the gift shop and procured a few goodies then headed back into town for a nice outdoor lunch ( I had the mussel chowder- the area is known for green shell mussels- and a local brew, Jess had their version of nachos- which includes a large mound of sour cream/ creme fraiche on top ??)

A bit more souvenir shopping up and down the street then back to the holiday park for another night and an early morning date with some whales (hopefully)!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239529320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239529320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239529320/tpod.html Sun, 12 Apr 2009 05:47:46 -0400 Jess & Allie's New Zealand Adventure

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Mapua, South Island, New Zealand

We finally had an opportunity for a leisurely day with no early morning agenda items. The night before upon checking into the camp ground they informed us of the Mapua Easter Fair that was happening right near the grounds.

Jess and I got up and had some locally baked "Hot Cross Buns" to celebrate the holiday. We then walked down to the fair right as it opened at 10am. It was a beautiful day and a delightful setting with both high-end artisan craft booths as well as carnival rides and "carny food" booths. We really enjoyed wandering around but before you know it the place was completely packed. Evidently it was a quite popular event for people even beyond the local village.

We found some wonderful items what we hoped to buy but we had run out of cash the night before. We set out to the EFT booth (read "ATM") but were unsuccessful. The only other ATM in all of Mapua was out of order. A bit disappointed we went back to the first vendor and she accommodated us by taking US dollars. We rounded up a bit to ensure she didn't take a loss due to fluctuations in the exchange rate. For the second (smaller item), we scrounged out every NZ coin we had which was 60 cents short... and we gave our sob story to the vendor and of course, she accepted the handful of change.

So, a bit of creativity and perseverance and we got our goods!

Next, we went across the street to a pub for some lunch before heading to Kaikoura.

We both ordered burgers from the menu without too much consideration. However, what we were served was just incredible. My burger, "The Works", included fried egg, bacon, cheese, caramelized onion, beet root, lettuce, tomato and aioli (and hamburger of course). Jessica's was about the same less egg, bacon and beet root.

Jess exclaimed hers was the best burger she had ever eaten. I had to somewhat dissect mine to get it into my mouth but I had to agree that it was pretty phenomenal.

Needless to say, we skipped dinner! We did in fact manage to get some NZ cash at a "more proper" ATM machine once arriving in Kaikoura... so its all good!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239528420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239528420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239528420/tpod.html Sun, 12 Apr 2009 05:41:55 -0400 Jess & Allie's New Zealand Adventure

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Mapua, South Island, New Zealand

Breakfast delivered another scrumptious meal as well as an ample table from which to select and pack our lunches for the day.

All of us headed out the door and said our "so longs" to the group that headed down the hiking trail and the rest of us loaded into our kayaks.

On this leg we had a guide, Sam, a good looking young man who had all the training and ability and not yet all the confidence for the role... but still completely enjoyable. With us were the conductor and his two daughters, and the mother and son for a total of 4 kayaks.

The first notable event was that Allison immediately fell out of the kayak within moments of getting started. Now, Jessica readily admits that she was deficit in her assigned duties to hold the kayak stable. None the less, it was pretty funny and Allison exclaimed..."well, got that out of the way".

We rowed along the coast line for a close up view of the various islands and rock outcroppings. Quickly we found that the pace seemed rather hastened and we soon determined that the two German girls (in separate kayaks- one with Dad, one with Sam) were in fact continually racing.

By lunch though, everyone was ready for a rest and just as we pulled out our sacks, the hiking set of our mates walked up having only arrived at the designated spot a few minutes before. And, it was noted that Allison's dumping of the kayak had "made the rounds of the South Island" at least as reported by our camp buddies.

After a nice hour break we continued on noticing that the wind had picked up during our stop and seas where a bit more choppy.

We were able to explore some caves as well as a close up view of the Egg Rock. Sam explained the Maori legend regarding how it cracked. At high tide it looks like it's part of the sea, but at low tide it looks like it's tied to the land. In Maori belief's there is a God for each and they fought over the creature they believed would hatch from the egg and become a protector for their domain. In the fight, a mighty blow from one of their fighting sticks broke the egg.

We had a rather long open water row to make and the seas where a bit rough at times for a total of 17 kilometers but we finally made it back to Kaiteriteri to catch the coach back again to Motueka and pick up our campervan.

It was somewhat sad to say good bye to these very interesting people with which we had shared these adventures.

We headed back again to Mapua to stay at the same campsite being too happily tired to drive much further.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239528240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239528240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessnallie/1/1239528240/tpod.html Sun, 12 Apr 2009 05:25:55 -0400 Jess & Allie's New Zealand Adventure

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Abel Tasman National Park, South Island, New Zealand

The outfitter company we utilized for this trip was Wilson's Experiences. It's a family owned and run organization and every aspect of the trip was made special by their touches.

Torrent Bay lodge is their family's "Holiday Lodge" remodeled to ensure a very comfortable and pleasant stay for the guests. We met a number of people that were in the middle of a 5 days adventure. A couple from England, the husband was a biologist who had just been in Singapore to present a paper then to NZ for holiday. A mother and grown son from the UK as well, vacationing together after his graduation from university and before he headed to law school. A gentleman and his two teenage daughters from Germany, yet he was the conductor of the Melbourne symphony. And, a local outdoors woman from Nelson.

After checking in and getting cleaned up in our wonderfully comfortable room, we smelled the most delightful aroma of home made rolls baking as we made our way downstairs.

The evening was spent together in the lovely sitting area enjoying appetizers and then the family style setting of an unexpectedly elegant meal of grouper.

It was completely enjoyable to spend a few hours with all of these intriguing individuals.

The night was capped with anticipation of the next day as they took our breakfast orders and planned for the different activities each of us would undertake.
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