So I might get cut off from writing this entry as it is 4am, I can't sleep, so I bought 30 minutes to type in the business center at the James Cook Grand Chancellor in Wellington. So if I don't finish this entry, I will be sure to do so when we get to Napier tonight.
So where were we? Oh yes, on our way to Abel Tasman for our 3 day, 2 night journey to the Awaroa Lodge. We left the Cathedral Inn after a lovely breakfast with a group from England, two of whom currently live in Arizona. One of the lovely ladies from the Inn drove us to the harbor where we boarded Abel Tasman Cruises, a cruise line that does guided day trips that would take us to the Awaroa Beach where we would not re-board the boat to return. I have to say that Andrew and I have been feeling a little like James Bond on this leg of our trip, as we have this book that tell us what we need to be doing at any given time. We go to the listed destinations, have no idea what to expect, hand over a voucher and we enjoy these fantastic adventures. I have to say that I am happy that we had a travel agent plan our time in New Zealand as it really has made things so easy.
After checking in with Paul, one of the captains, we were off to tour the Abel Tasman coastline with its golden beaches, lush forests, fur seals, wonderful rock formations including split apple rock and exotic bird life. It took about 2 hours of boating along the beautiful coastline in the Tasman Sea before we arrived at our beach where the boat landed and we walked 5 minutes up a small path, where we checked into the beautiful Awaroa Lodge.
We were in the middle of nowhere, at this fabulous eco-lodge, where there was no driving (the only way to get there is by air, by foot or by sea), there were no distractions, no TV... just beautiful scenery and a wonderful restaurant with extremely fresh products grown right from their garden just 100 yards away. The lodge reminded me a little bit of the Carneros Inn in Napa Valley. It was simple, a little like a big farm, with a warm and cozy feel to it.
After settling into our room, Andrew and I went to the restaurant where we enjoyed a glass of white wine over the most fantastic Risotto and Jambalaya at our open air table with views of the hills and the wetlands in the distance. After lunch we retreated to the gorgeous long golden sand beach with crystal clear blue green water. The beach was one of the most beautiful beaches I had been to as it was completely undisturbed and was in its natural state. I took a walk down the beach while Andrew read his Fortune Magazine and picked up shells, one more pretty than the next.
After a couple hours of basking in the sunshine, we headed back to the Lodge where we opened a Peregrine Riesling we had picked up in the Central Otago and I proceeded to pound on poor Andrew in Dominoes. It really was not fair how badly I was beating him. It was 49 to 2 when we started over again and still in the next game, he simply could not catch up. We sat on the sun deck of the hotel as we watched small birds dive in the distance, occasionally one or two of them would land next to us and hop around before taking off again. Exhausted from our 2 day journey to get up to Abel Tasman from Queenstown, we retreated to our room where for the second time in four years, Andrew napped with me by his side.
We had asked for a wake-up call at 6:30pm, as we had 7:30pm reservations at the restaurant, but apparently the Awaroa relies more on the birds to wake you up than the reception, as not once did we receive a wake-up call when we were there despite the requests. I awoke to the sound of an annoying child next door yelling and found it was 7:15pm. We jumped out of bed and readied ourselves for dinner. Luckily it was only a few steps away.
We had a wonderful dinner with specialty fresh ingredient cocktails and I had the crispy duck while Andrew had the chicken. We had been wanting to sit in the leather chairs next to the fire in the library all day and post dinner was our opportunity. I ordered a fantastic hot chocolate with home made marshmallows and we caught up on the Nelson News as we relaxed by the fire. We were in bed by 9:30pm.
11 hours later we woke up to the sound of the birds and had a delicious breakfast of fresh breads, with homemade jams and oatmeal with butterscotch. Andrew and I have started to take to splitting things here in New Zealand as the portions are HUGE! It really is unbelievable the amount of food that they bring to your table. At any rate, after breakfast we took a 3 hour hike to One-Ahuti beach where we ate sandwiches we brought from the lodge. We saw a Penguin there, but unfortunately it was dead, most likely hit by a passing boat. It made me very sad as I do love the penguins. We hiked up the Sky Track where we had spectacular views of the Awaroa Beach and Lodge and watched the small planes take off from the grass air strip before heading back down to the lodge. After all, we had to scope out where we would be taking off from the next day.
We sat on the sun deck again later that afternoon and enjoyed a couple cold beers while I read my book and Andrew studied up on the New Zealand wine country. We were starving by the time 7pm arrived and went to the restaurant for dinner where I had a wonderful salmon. Unfortunately Andrew's meal resembled some of our meals in Hong Kong. He had a flounder where the whole fish arrived in all its glory on his plate, head, fin, eye's and all. It wasn't the most appetizing meal, so we indulged in a little desert, not the worst outcome if you ask me.
We woke up the next morning ready for our kayaking adventure. Again, the wake-up call did not come, but we woke up in time to enjoy a fabulous smoothie and fresh bread platter before heading to the beach. The boats were placed on the beach for us and we waited a short time for our guide to be delivered. He went over all of the safety procedures and we were off to travel along the rocky shoreline in our two person kayak with our guide there to make sure we didn't crash or capsize. The boat was a little bit rocky and the large swells didn't really help. I have to say it was A LOT harder than we expected, but that is kind of the theme of our trip. We have no idea what we are getting ourselves into until we do it. Regardless, for 3 hours, we battled the high surf and traveled through lagoons, past fur seals in the distance and arrived at the very beach it took us an hour to get to by foot. I think by the time we got there Andrew and I were so excited to get out of the boat and have a cup of tea that we were the first to arrive on the beach. It seems that is what we do, all we want to do is finish, so we power through and are consistently the first to arrive.
We were driven back to Awaroa by water taxi. With our kayak's strapped to the back of the boat, we sped over the huge swells we had traveled on, just this time in the opposite direction. My stomach rose and fell with each wave and I was giggling like a schoolgirl as it felt like we were on a roller coaster ride. We stopped briefly to admire the adorable seals and continued on. Andrew and I could not believe how far we had come. It really was quite incredible. We were very proud of ourselves. Upon getting back to the Awaroa, we had time for a quick sandwich before our pilot met us in the lobby to take us back to Nelson. Our flight was at 3pm and we met the pilot at 2:55pm. He escorted us down to the airstrip where our bags were already loaded onto the tiny 3 passenger plane and within minutes we were strapped in and bouncing along the grass runway taking off. We were in the air at 3:05pm.
The scenery was spectacular from the air and our pilot talked to us throughout the 20 minute flight about the various beaches and scenery to our right hand side. The flight was so smooth and upon landing, Andrew and I both had huge smiles on our faces as the flight was so much fun. Here I am a terrible flier and I loved every minute of that flight. The woman behind the counter at Scenic Flights drove us to our B & B, The California House where we would stay the night before heading to the North Island.
We were greeted by a very boisterous gentleman named Ray who was the Inn keeper with his lovely wife. He told us all about the place, which was originally purchased by a couple from Northern California who fell in love with Nelson and opened the B & B. Our room was lovely and we could hardly wait for the homemade breakfast the next morning. We were settling in and I went to check my Visa bill to make sure it was paid on time and there it was... A $1162.16 charge from Europcar. I thought to myself there had to be some mistake.
So I went back to the room and called Europcar in Adelaide, Australia and spoke to a woman by the name of Alison who claimed there was an 18 Millimeter scratch on the driver side door when the car was returned to the airport. There was no possible way that we did that as we had checked the car when we returned it. Apparently Europcar decides to keep its prices low, and gets you on the back end when you least expect it. They had asked us if we wanted to reduce our insurance from $1,000 to $300 before we left, knowing nothing would happen to the car we declined. It turns out that if ANY damage is done to the car, including an 18 Millimeter scratch, they charge you the whole deductible and just charge your credit card without letting you know.
Poor Ray. I think that I rose my voice a bit to Alison as I wanted to rip her head off. "This is outrageous", I said and as I was giving her my email address to send me a photo of the damage, our phone card was used up and I was cut off. It was probably better that happened as I was about to lose it. Needless to say, Visa is on the case now and I am not going to deal with this. If you are EVER in Australia or New Zealand, pay the extra money for Hertz or Avis, as yesterday when the Europcar rep was inspecting our car with a fine tooth comb, we overheard the Hertz rep say, "well, so long as it has four hubcaps and a steering wheel we are good to go." Stupid Europcar!!! I hate them!
Ok, back to our day. Despite the frustration caused by this incident, we had a lovely dinner at Bar Delicious on Trafalgar St. near the Cathedral and went out for another drink as we needed one at the pub across the street. We returned back to our lovely California House and packed up our stuff. We were sad to leave the South Island as we had so much fun during all of our adventures there, but were eager to see what the North Island had to bring us.
