A series of fortunate events – Part 2

Alright. So we drank some wine, and got some tips, so what..? 

(Read Part 1 if you have no idea what I’m on about)

Jan 16:

We drove to Marahau, passing Nelson, perhaps the prettiest place on the planet. We also stopped at a few breweries (after Miranda kissed the ground), had VIP treatment at the peanut butter factory, I bought a new beer snobby hat (woot!)

Jan 17:

Abel Tasman Charters. Number 1 ranked thing to do in Abel Tasman – well deserved. We were 2 of 8 people on a tour of Abel Tasman national park. We saw a bird island (we heard some birds), a sea lion island (we saw some rocks that looked that sea lions, and turned out to be the real thing), we learned a lot about the area, it’s history and it’s conservation (it was fascinating). We had lunch and bevies. Then we kayaked for an hour, we were the only couple to do so. We were given a tip and followed it. What happened next was beyond amazement. A sea lion family with new pup, up close and personal in the wild. It was a truly unique and national geographic moment that blew us away. Photos don’t capture everything that it was, but I’ll try anyways.

We finished the the day with a hike, beautiful views, and swimming with fish! I had packed a water bottle with bread bits (thanks to a tip from my pal Kevin) but was given a stern look and warned that I might attract sharks (with bread..? #carbloading) from an unnamed source, so I left it behind. Our captain tossed left over bread bits into the water to gather the fish, she even called me over to put some between my toes for feeding. It was magical… MAGICAL! There has been a bottle with bread bits in the car ever since – you never know when you might need to attract fish!

The day was perfect, and our brush with nature made me start to feel like Ace Ventura.

Before de-boarding, I asked our captain what to do with our spare day in Abel Tasman now that we’d seen a good majority of the park. She suggested we head to the Golden Bay and seek out “the best beach in New Zealand – Wharariki Beach” (pronounced “farariki”).

Stay tuned for the next events…

So for those keeping track:

• The hotel suggested Bike2Wine
• Brisbanians suggested Abel Tasman Charters (which we booked)
• We got to see Sea Lions and a pup in the wild (OMG)
• Captain on the Charter boat suggested the alleged “best beach”