Kayaking in Abel Tasman, among other things

Howdy faithful blog readers.  Since our last post, the trip has continued to be a blast.  From Kaikoura and the dolphins, we headed north to the Marlborough Sound region around the town of Picton.  We drove out the Queen Charlotte scenic drive and stayed in the Momorangi campground with a family of ducks before heading further north to the town of French Pass.  This drive was along a gravel road about 1000 feet above the ocean.  Went from NZ tropical like forest to the Scottish Highlands with sheep farms.  It was beautiful.  French Pass was smaller than Olga WA, and was quite a find.  We also had our first encounter with the Weka.  A sort of NZ wild chicken that is not afraid of humans and loves camps.  We shared a pint and talked politics before it headed back to the nest.

After leaving Marlborough, we drove up to Abel Tasman for some hiking and kayaking.  The park is dotted with yellow beaches, fur seals, and a hiking track.  We took a water taxi halfway up the park the first day for an easy 2 hour hike.  Day two we joined with Abel Tasman kayaks and our guide, Hamish, to paddle from the north end of the park.  The paddle trip was very fun even though Laurie and I were the only people with kayaking experience.  On day two, we were split up to help strengthen the teams a little.  

Hamish was a riot and knew a great deal of Maori history making the trip that much more interesting.  He was also a great cook.  Sweet and sour chicken, sponge cake with sherry and berries, french toast, fried bananas, bacon, sandwiches, cold beer, and wine.  This is why that part of the trip cost more than our plane tickets.  I am officially back to my playing weight.  Playing vids, drinking beer, and eating fried cheese weight...

We pushed on south after the paddle towards Nelson Lakes and treated ourselves to a night in a hotel room with a real bed.  Alpine Lodge on Lake Rotoiti.  Slept like a log and ate like a man who would die if he did not eat pork.  Dinner included a sausage, steak, beef patty, bacon, and two fried eggs.  Yes, the eggs were an easy sell.  I think that there was some salad under the fries.  Anyhoo, the lake was very scenic and home to large freshwater eels.  We were able to hand feed them.  Hiked to the top of Mt. Robert after that and had an amazing view of the NZ mountains.  Did not see any Keas though.  They are an alpine parrot that will eat the rubber on your car.  Would have liked to have seen that.

Now we are trapped in our van getting poured on.  First bad weather of the trip so we can't complain.  Tomorrow on to the Fox Glacier then down to Queenstown for the Routeburn Trek.  I will probably hurl myself off a bridge if time allows.  Laurie says hi. 

Will post more pics immediately following.