This is it...the grand finale for our New Zealand adventure, a trip to the northern part of the south island and Kaiteriteri/Abel Tasman National Park. Wednesday, November 8th was our departure day for our last journey in the Toyota Wish.
The drive to and from Abel Tasman to Christchurch takes about 6 hours; we made a loop on this trip - traveling inland through Hanmer Springs on the way to Kaiteriteri and returning via the coast and through Kaikoura on our way back to Chch.
Hanmer Springs
This little town in the mountains is known for its thermal pools and hydroslides. We took about a three hour break here on our way to Kaiteritiri. The kids had fun riding the slides and Jay and I had fun relaxing in the hot pools. We weren't totally boring though, and we did ride the slides with the kids! It helped knowing hot pools were waiting for us to warm up in after getting cold going down the water slides.
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| Having fun at Hanmer Springs! |
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| The hydroslides (stock photo from the web) |
After the springs, we drove another 4 hours to The Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve, where we stayed for one night. It was another type of holiday park (but not a Top10) with mixed accomodations - cabins, tent sites, etc. We stayed in a connected "cabin" - basically one big room with it's own bathroom. We were tired from the drive and grabbed dinner at a restaurant onsite followed by a family game of Onze back at our little "cabin."
Thursday, November 9th- Day 1 Abel Tasman
The thing that's special about Abel Tasman National Park is that it has one of the New Zealand great walks in the park called The Abel Tasman Coastal Walkway. This means that there is a four day trail where people can hike and stay at designated cabins along the way. What's great is they have many different options available for people to hike whichever section, or sections, they choose without having to camp or stay overnight in the huts. The trail follows the coast north to south along the Tasman Sea.
On Thursday, we had arranged an aqua, or water, taxi to pick us up at 9:00am from Kaiteriteri Beach and drive us to Bark Bay. We hiked the section of trail from Bark Bay south to Anchorage Bay, where the aqua taxi met us at 4:00pm to return us back to Kaiteriteri. The Skipper was lots of fun; he just backed up to the beach in the jet boat, pulled up the propeller, and unfolded a metal ramp for guests to board the boat with. The water taxi had seating for about 18 people. It was a wild ride among the waves both there and back with lots of wind and rain! The kids, and parents, were cold and wet by the end of the day. We moved to our airbnb bach house after the hike, which was a huge upgrade from the recreation reserve. It felt great to get a fire going there and get cozy!
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| We hiked from Bark Bay to Anchorage - 11.5 KM |
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| 'Tis a bit windy out here |
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| The Skipper pulling up in his Aqua Taxi |
Our luck with the weather took a 180 and we had sun for the rest of our trip! Friday morning, we took a Waka canoe trip. A Waka is a traditional Maori Canoe; it's like two canoes attached with a wooden bridge. There were two Maori guides and just our family on the canoe trip. The trip was meant to give us more insights and understanding of The Maori culture. Our guide started by having us introduce ourselves in Maori and then he gave a beautiful incantation on the beach to welcome us and protect us on our ride. We learned loads about the Maori people and their way of life at Abel Tasman. The kids took turns counting 12 paddle strokes at a time then shouting "Hup" which signaled for everyone to switch the side they were paddling on.
We also learned the Haka - A ceremonial war dance, that we did from the Waka when we would approach a new bay to let others know we were coming. At the end of the Haka, the men stick out their tongues and give a guttural yell, and the women open their eyes big, make a big frown and shout a bird noise. It was really interesting and fun to participate in. New Zealand has, somewhat recently, put in a lot of work to recognize the Maori culture and language. Everyone learns English and Maori in school here and all of the signs are always in Maori and English. Many times when we are on any tour, they give us the information in Maori and then in English. It feels pretty unique how culturally inclusive and respectful New Zealanders are of the Maori, as they should be since they were the native people of Aotearoa. Maori currently make up about 17% of the population in New Zealand.
At the end of the Waka paddle we ended with another ceremony on the beach and by doing a Hongi, a greeting/goodbye where you put your forehead and nose together with another person, hold each other's shoulder, and take a shared breath. The whole Waka trip and experience was informative, inclusive, and a lot of fun. The most meaningful message we took away from the trip, was when our Maori guide translated the ending incantation which asked us to remember our ancestors who came before us and helped us get to where we are today. Jay and I had a reflective conversation around this idea with the kids at lunch that day; we are all so thankful for our parents, grandparents, and those who came before us to help pave the way for our life today!
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| Maori sentence stems in the sand - I loved this ;) |
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| Getting ready to take off |
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| Split Apple Rock |
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| Kids helping pull in the Waka |
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| Morning Tea break on a beach along the paddle route |
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| View Paddling out from Kaiteriteri |
Post paddle Lunch:
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| We found some extra protein in our mussels... |
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| ...made us wonder, is the mussel eating the crab, or the crab eating the mussel?? |
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| Green Mussels - a specialty of the region |
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| lunchin' beachside |
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| Yum as... |
Views from our Bach...
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| Lots of steps down - natural wood railings were cool |
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| Sunset |
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| Sunrise |
Afternoon swim back at Kaiterteri...
Saturday, November 11th - Day 3 Abel Tasman
Today was our sea kayaking and hiking day! The day I was most looking forward to - exploring the coast paddling north by kayak and then returning via hike back to the beginning of the Abel Tasman Coastal walk.
We paddled out with Kahu Kayak Company from Marahauo to a place called Observation Beach (just south of Anchorage). Along the way, we got to explore sea caves and paddle to a seal colony where seals played all around our kayaks. It was amazing! The trip ended around noon at Observation Beach where we enjoyed some lunch, hot coffee, and cocoa. The kids and Jay took a dunk in the sea. Then we made our hike back to the start at Marahauo on the 10.5 KM trail. It was a busy day after three hours of paddling and then a hike, but the trail is mostly flat as it follows the coast. The weather was perfect and the scenery was outstanding. A cold beer was waiting for us at the Marahauo cafe to wrap up the day!
Too many good pics to share - this is me "editing" myself - lol...
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| Off trail walking during low tide |
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| Giant mussel? shells |
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| We made it back! |
Sunday, November 12th - Kaikoura Whale Watching
Time to head home from our trip via the coast with a stop in Kaikoura for a whale watching cruise. We had to leave Kaiteriri bright and early, by 6:00am, in order to drive the four hours to Kaikoura and make the cruise. Something about driving early in the morning is so peaceful; I love watching the world wake up.
There was a high seasick warning when we checked in for the whale watch, which put Maggie into a bit of a panic. We bought Dramamine at the gift shop and took it before we got on the boat, which probably saved all of us. There were plenty of people puking into their barf bags on the boat - Finn was especially not a fan of this. At one point I looked over at him and he just had his fingers in his ears; I guess he was trying to make it all go away.
Back to the actual tour, the whale watch company uses a hydrophone to listen for the whale sounds in order to find them. We spotted two sperm whales; they come to the surface to breathe about every 40 minutes. You can only see the top 10% of the whale as 90% of their body is still under water. They hang out at the surface for several minutes and then stretch out and dive down. This is when their massive tale comes out of the water - it's breathtaking! The Sperm whales are about 30 feet in length and weigh 35-40 tons. After spotting the whales, we found a pod of dolphins on the way back to the dock. They were unbelievably playful and cute - jumping and flipping out of the water in little packs of two or three.
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| Goodbye sunrise as we left Kaiteriteri |
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| Waiting to get on the boat in Kaikoura |
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| The open air top deck of the boat - we spent most of our time up here |
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| Whale's tale - hard to capture how massive it looks in person |
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| Glimpses of whale on the surface |
AMAZING! The Wake Canoe thing is really cool. It's awesome that you got to experience that and really, what an education for the kids, too! So neat. And the sea kayaks - how fun! The pics are beautiful and i'm sure do no justice to the real deal. And you KNOW I love a whale watch - they make me cry. Don't love all the barfers though, gross. LOL Enjoy your last days in NZ, can't wait to catch up in a few weeks!!! xoxoxo
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