Hooked on Marahau

It is not difficult to be. We had a lovely meal at the restaurant of the above name last night and slept well ahead of our trip!! I say this with feeling. We arrived at the Kayak station at 8.30 for our briefing where we were kitted out with various equipment and most importantly our spray skirts. Somehow I don’t see this as a fashion which will take on in London, although perhaps Vivienne Westwood may be the type of designer to draw inspiration from this querky costume. However, they do have a purpose. Needless to say their aim is to keep you dry, although as our instructor said, this is water sports.
We were then driven on a tractor in our water taxi which was then released into the sea, complete with us on it, and it headed at break neck speed for Onetahuti Beach at Tonga where our kayaks awaited us.
We had some more instruction and then kayaked to Tonga Island, which is home to a fur seal population (actually they are sea lions not seals) and went gently around the island watching the activity. The island was also very popular with cormorants and spotted shags.
We then headed back to the mainland through the most beautiful blue water and after about an hour and a half we reached Medlands Beach where we stopped for lunch.
Kayaking does not appear to need a lot of skill, but it certainly does use some muscles which we had clearly not used for some time. Tomorrow morning will be interesting.
After lunch we started our 2 hour walk on a track fairly high through the national park with lovely views of the sea at various stages, particularly over Frenchman’s Bay and otherwise lovely trees and shrubs all around, including a firm favourite, the tree fern. We also had to negotiate a 57 metre suspension bridge which was interesting. We were lucky that much of the route was undercover but it was quite exhausting nonetheless; we arrived at Torrent Bay in time for a swim before the water taxi picked us up for our speedy ride back to Marahau.
It was a fantastic day and we loved every minute of it; the coastal scenery and the sea colours were stunning. We are now exhausted – in fact Ray is in bed staying he is incapable of moving. I (also apparently known as the lovely lady wife), have sorted out the washing and drying so we are back on track with clean clothes. We managed a take away fish and chips sitting outside our chalet listening to the wonderful birdsong which is all over the area. Many thanks to our Harrogate friends, John and Sarah who recommended Abel Tasman; it’s wonderful.
Tomorrow we hope to have the energy to drive to the Marlborough wine country, but we are definitely hooked on Marahau.