Abel; Tasman National Park

Feb. 26 - We are now in the Abel Tasman National Park which is right up at the top of the south island. It’s an absolutely gorgeous area which is being kept as pristine as possible given the number of tourists here. They are trying to repopulate the forests with birds which have been decimated by imported guests such as ferrets and stoats. They are also trying to eliminate these pests but it’s quite a job. The sad thing is as you walk through the forest, there are hardly any birds singing. But at least they are trying. One good thing is that we seem to have left the sandflies behind. I don’t think I’ve mentioned them before, but they are ubiquitous on the west coast and we had been warned about them. They are tiny little flies which we actually didn’t have too much trouble with until the last few days and then they discovered our ankles and feet.
One completely unrelated point which keeps popping into the front of my head so I have to put it down - we recently stayed a night in Hokitika and as we left, it occurred to me that it would have made a good ABBA title (I then had “Chicitika” (sp?) going round in my head for about 3 days - have I planted it in your head too?!)
We went on a kayaking trip today with a lovely young guide called Dan. There were 3 other double kayaks so it was a nice small group. We weren’t sure whether to be concerned that Dan did a Maori prayer for safety before we left! (I am actually writing this on Feb. 28 and we have just heard about the earthquake in Chile with the possibility of a tsunami here, so maybe he had a point………) We kayaked down the coast to a landmark called the Split Apple which looks like (pause for effect) ….. a split apple! It’s a huge granite lump which has split nicely down the middle and one half has fallen to one side (see behind us in kayak picture). We had a lovely calm day which started out looking a bit iffy but then the sun came out and it was gorgeous. As you can see from the photo, we were all kitted out with kayak skirts which are a real fashion statement! But they kept you nice and dry. Dan was an excellent guide and told us all about the history of the area as we went. On the way back, we passed a little blue penguin fishing. He was just floating around on top of the water, peering down (looking much like a snorkeler) and he really couldn’t have cared less about us so we got quite close.
Feb. 27 - We went on an official “tramp” today! We took a boat down to Bark Bay and then walked back to Torrent Bay (about 10 km) along the Abel Tasman Track (one of the Great New Zealand Walks). Again, the weather gods have been incredibly kind and we had a glorious day - blue, blue sky, gentle breeze and of course we were walking through forest, so not too much sun. Every now and then, you would come to the top of a hill and the trees would drop away and there would be an amazing view (see picture). Of course, the photo doesn’t come close to doing the real thing justice. Hazy mountains in the background, blue lagoon with golden sand in the foreground and several yachts sailing on the azure (sorry, couldn’t help it!) sea in between! We actually got to our pick up point about an hour early, so we snoozed on the beach until rescue came. John was very good natured about the whole thing - he doesn’t really “get” why you would want to walk for the sake of walking, but I’m almost sure I heard him whistling snatches of “The Happy Wanderer” as we tramped along!
We are now off to Picton (provided we don’t get washed away by the tsunami) to get the ferry across to the north island. We are hoping to meet up with our Australian friends Reg and Ruby who are “doing” NZ from north to south and our common geographical point is Wellington. I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to attack the north island - the south island was reasonably easy as it’s long and thin, so we basically went around the edge except for a foray into the interior for Mount Cook. The north island has lots of bits sticking out of it and interesting stuff in the middle, so plans are fluid at the moment. However, I have seen that the Golden Shears tournament is on when we pass through Masterton (sheep shearing extravaganza!) which is probably not to be missed.