:: Kayaking in the Abel Tasman ::

We had arrived from sunny Sydney into Wellington to a lovely downpour of rain - not what you want when you are looking for a tan! Anyway we headed to the Abel Tasman hoping for sun, sea and sand and she didn’t let us down. The Abel Tasman is an amazing National Park in New Zealand and one of my favourite spots to visit. It’s renowned for travellers walking the track or taking a kayak trip down the coast. We decided to try kayaking with Kaiteriteri Kayaks a long established company who specialise in this area.

The day started with clear blue skies 27 degrees and some smiling Brits covered in sunscreen. We met the crew down on Kaiteriteri beach. All the staff were really friendly and had lively personalities to get you moving in the morning! Our assigned guide was a really nice guy called Taz. Now we had signed up for the ‘one day royale with cheese’. However after speaking to Taz it turned out that as the weather was so calm we were going to head to the far end of the park and see part of the coast that is usually too rough to kayak. One of the key differences between the kayaking trips that companies offer is whether you go from the start of the park and then double back or get a speed boat out further along the park. Personally I would rather get the speedboat out as some of the nicer bits of the park are further down the coast and on these trips you are not seeing things twice.

So we loaded our kayaks, gear and lunch onto the speedboat and headed off up the coast. Now if you get the chance a boat trip up the Abel Tasman is a great way to see the coast from a different angle than walking it. We sped past groups of kayakers looking at what we would be doing very soon. Once on dry land we had a chance to take in the area. We had landed on a pristine white sand bay (see photos) it really looked like a picture from a travel brochure. Taz gave us a safety briefing then we head into the water and got used to moving around.

We set off down the coast taking in the many bays along the way. We paddled past seals and many different birds, found caves and went up river mouths - much more to do and see than we expected. It was great to do all these things as I have been on kayaking trips that can get quite tedious if the scenery is all the same. We pulled into a secluded bay for lunch. Once again I was very impressed with what was served up (see photo) whatever happened to packaged sandwiches and an apple!! It was a great chance to go for a swim and chat to the other people in the group. Being a man who loves the sun the Abel Tasman couldn’t be much better. It was great to be in such an amazing area but with no-one else around – a key advantage to kayaking the Tasman as you can head to beaches only accessible by sea.

In the afternoon we had chance to get our sail up and take a break from paddling. Taz knew the area really well and took us into caves and our afternoon break was in a secret beach in the cliffs (see photo) – could have stayed there for hours!

Conclusion

We had a great time kayaking the Abel Tasman and even though I had done it before I still enjoyed it this time around. Kayaking is a great way to see the coastline and explore areas you wouldn’t see when walking the track. If you get chance to walk some or all of the track or maybe try an overnight kayak trip and experiencing camping on the beaches! If you aren’t an active person then you might want to consider seeing the Abel Tasman by boat.