Hello, hello. How's everyone? I guess I don't need to tell you all what day or time it is here anymore since I live down the street from many of you again. Hope you all had a good weekend -- did anyone watch the Grammys? I always miss that sort of stuff and hear about it later, but last night the kids and I watched a lot of it and really enjoyed a bunch of the live performances! Especially Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers, and Eminem and Dr. Dre too. Check them out on iTunes if you're into that sort of thing.
'Course if we'd been in New Zealand we would've missed the Grammys because we would've been outside doing something. Who could resist that water?? Well, not me. On Boxing Day, 26 December, we got up early, had lots of breakfast so we'd be Popeye strong, and drove up to Marahau, the southern boundary of the park to meet our guide and the rest of the group. We were pretty excited about this -- spending an entire day on and in the waters of the Abel Tasman park. Wow.
At low tide they use these big old tractors to pull all the boats waaaaay out to the water. Looked kinda weird!
Here we were nearing the end of our six months and finally we were in pretty good shape and an 8km paddle up the coastline didn't scare me too much. It should've because it really kicked my ass, but I did it!
Just when I thought my arms would simply die and fall off, we paddled into a quiet little cove for a short rest. And like all of our other excursions in New Zealand, we had no fear that morning tea would be forgotten. Zach had brought all of the necessary provisions -- including a little gas burner to heat up the milk for those that wanted Cappuccino. Unreal! :o)
With that energy boost, the group made it the rest of the way up to Watering Cove, where everyone went their separate ways. One couple hiked back to Marahau (about 3 hours) and the other took the water taxi back. We left our kayaks there to be taken back with Zach and then hiked up over the hills and down into The Anchorage (1/2 hour) where we spent a lovely afternoon and ate the lunches that Kahu Kayaks had packed for us, and fought off a gang of seagulls. A few hours later a water taxi came and took us back to Marahau. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Remember what I told you guys about the lichen? There was some danged good air in this place!
While I was simply giddy with joy about driving around in horizontal sleet today, I sure do wish I could wiggle my nose like Samantha in Bewitched and spend a few hours each week with that golden sand on the soles of my feet and those seagulls dive bombing me for my filled roll (hoagie sandwich!).
xoxo to you all, K.
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