Still on our way home with stopovers at several airports and plenty of time to kill. Hence another blogpost, trying to catch up with all we did in New Zealand ;-) This blogpost is about what we did on 14 January 2014. Slowly but surely catching up, just one whole month left....
Dus, op 14 januari zijn we naar het Abel Tasman NP gegaan. Daar kom je echter niet zomaar, daar moet je wel wat moeite voor doen! Het park grenst namelijk voor ongeveer de helft aan de zee en aan de landkant zijn er nauwelijks wegen het park in. Kortom, dat werd de watertaxi!
So, on January we went to explore the Abel Tasman NP. But it is not that easy to get there, you have to put in a little effort! The reason being that about half of its border sits right on the ocean and there are hardly any roads into the park. In short, the water taxi is in order!
En die zien er zo uit And this is what a water taxi looks like |
Via the internet we had booked a trip, a combination of a water taxi drop off, walking about 7½ km of the Abel Tasman track and then get picked up again. That way you get a taste of what the NP is about without having do do a multi day track. Let's be honest about it, that's not really about us ;-)
Aan het begin van de wandeling, wij moesten nog iets verder dan Bark Bay At the start of our part of the Abel Tasman track, although Bark Bay was not where we would be picked up again |
Dit was inderdaad halverwege het stuk wat wij liepen ;-) Yep, half way indeed ;-) |
Tja, wat moet je daar nog voor commentaar op geven? Van zo'n uitzicht kan je alleen maar genieten! Any comment really necessary? One can only enjoy views like that! |
En dan moet je ook nog zo'n wiebelende brug over! And along the way you have to cross this swing bridge! |
Bridges like this support their own weight just with steel cables, not with any poles what so ever... That was a leap of faith for me as I am not too keen on swinging bridges ;-)
Maar daar sta ik dan wel mooi met mijn gelukspoppetjes in de hand ;-) But still standing there, holding my no worry dolls ;) |
En de uitzichten worden alleen maar fraaier! The views are getting better and better! |
At one of the outlooks we ran into a whole group of Belgians with whom we had a really nice chat. Edwin made a group picture of them and in return we had our picture taken:
Aan het genieten van alweer een heerlijke dag met stralend weer! Enjoying yet another wonderful day with great weather! |
Once we got to Sandfly Bay (what's in a name....) we had to wait about half an hour before being picked up. All these stops are at beaches, not towns or anything like that. There are campsites at these beaches but only with very minimal amenities (read cold showers....) and you have to bring everything with you, food, drinks, you name it. Sandfly Bay is about halfway the route of the watertaxi and included in our trip is going all the way to the furthest 'point of call' so you get to see most of the coastline of the NP. And yes, we did see some nice things on the way.
Onderweg met de watertaxi On our way by water taxi |
Deze rots wordt 'Split Apple Rock' genoemd oftewel 'Gespleten Appel Rots'. Tja, je vraagt je af waarom ;-) This rock is named 'Split Apple Rock'. One wonders why ;-) |
Je kan ook per kayak het park verkennen. Another way to explore the coast is by kayak. |
Jaaaa, de eerste zeeleeuwen die we deze vakantie zien! Yeah, our very first sealions! |
En ook nog aalscholvers, het kan niet op! And also some cormorants (although they call them 'shags' in NZ), we are getting spoilt! |
En ja, je kan ook nog gewoon zwemmen hier. Yep, you can also enjoy the coast just floating in the sea. |
And yet another day has flown by, just like that! Nice walk, great weather, lovely sailing, what more could one ask for?!?
Groetjes,
Edwin en Monique
Cheers,
Edwin and Monique