Abel Tasman National Park

I'm sorry this is so overdue! You wouldn't believe how busy I've been with schoolwork, it's simply awful. Whoever said you just have fun while being abroad was a liar (or didn't take 300 level classes like me). Anyway. I left off from my description of my trip with my day in Abel Tasman and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, I recommend you read the previous blog entry.

Abel Tasman

Yesterday was a really nice day. We woke up at 6:20 AM in order to watch the sun rise. We went into the outskirts of the Abel Tasman National Park dressed in a strange pajamas/warm clothes mixture. We walked through the very wet sand and puddles and tried to find a good spot to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, the sky was too cloud for us to really see much. It was kind of a bummer, but at the same time, it wasn't too bad because we had an adventure to get there (jumping over puddles, sinking in the sand, etc.). I was also glad we were trying to make the most out of our time in Abel Tasman. By the way, the name of the place we were staying at, which was cabin style with a community bathroom, showers and kitchen, was called Old MacDonald's farm! So funny.

Because we had woken up so early, the rest of the morning was quite leisurely. We made breakfast (oatmeal and scrambled eggs) and packed a bag for the day. We were driven to Kerikeri, a favorite vacation spot for Kiwis and tourists alike, to start our day of sailing. The beach was gorgeous, I love the picture below:



You may not be able to tell, but the water was so blue and the beach amazingly golden. One of the best parts about traveling with the Stray bus was that we got awesome deals on activities. I saved over $60 on the fully day sailing experience. It's kind of hard to detail what we did during the day because a lot of it was just spent on the boat. The Skipper offered lots of commentary such as the history and the story of New Zealand's discovery by Dutchman Abel Tasman (thanks to your people, Nora), though many people say Captain Cook discovered it, it was nearly a hundred years after Tasman that Cook came to the island. The Skipper also explained that the park was established in 1947. The owner of the land lobbied the government to buy it off of her and turn it into a national park. Eventually the government agreed. Interestingly, there were sections of the land that had a different owner that the rest of the land. Those owners would not sell their land to the government, which means that even today there is some privately owned land within the park, much of which is homes rented out. Because it is a national park, there are no roads so all the houses were brought over on boats. There is also no electricity or water supply so people must be completely self-sufficient.

We stopped at a few islands during the course of the day including one where we took a beautiful hike through the 'bush' (forest in Kiwi) and ended up at a beach where the boat met us. At that point we grabbed our lunches off the boat and had a lovely beach picnic. I even was daring and went in the water in the moderate cold!

The view from one of the islands:

What the trail in the bush looked like:


Me during the walk in the bush:



There was plenty of coffee and tea on board and we spent the day enjoying the water, islands, sun, drinks and company. We returned to the Farm and spent the rest of the evening making/eating dinner, doing some laundry, checking the Internet and watching Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which was on DVD in the TV/computer room. I tell ya, no matter where you go, even when you cannot receive cell phone reception, you cannot escape American influence. Later in the evening, we bundled up with as much warm clothes (see below) as possible and star gazed. I saw five shooting stars, the most ever! Being that secluded gave us a spectacular view of the heavens.

Me brushing my teeth after getting all bundled up to view the stars.

Barrytown

I will update this entry with some stories from Barrytown sometime soon (hopefully), but I wanted to get a little more of the blog done so I don't fall so far behind. But it's after midnight and I have a test tomorrow so I must go. Thanks again for reading :)