Our kayaking and camping adventure

An early start in the morning and we head off to Marahau where we go to Kayak Abel Tasman and meet our guide, Chee, and our other 3 companions, Jessica, Jason and Peter. We pack up our waterproof bags and climb into the back of the taxi boat and get towed down to the water (which is a bit weird!) and then we head north for about 40 minutes to Awaroa. We pull into the lagoon and get dropped off on the beach. We need to pack our kayaks and get our gear on and then we are ready to head out.

We paddle south, the sun is shining, the water is crystal clear and an amazing blue colour and the scenery is amazing. We stop for lunch on a small beach with only seals as company! All of a sudden a pod of dolphins are spotted and we scramble back into the kayaks and paddle like mad to see if we can get out far enough to encounter them. I get to see them jumping out of the water and making their way across the bay. Unfortunately they don’t stick around and we head back to finish lunch.

Off again for more kayaking along the Tonga Island Marine Reserve and there are some choppy waves which gives us a bit of a challenge as we paddle along. As we head into bays we at least get a bit of help from the wave but told not to ride them (they can spin the kayak and we might capsize)!!

We head towards Onetahuti which is where we will camp for the night. The stretch of beach that we arrive at is at least 600m long and the water is now completely calm in the bay. We unload the kayaks and put our tent up (fortunately no arguments!!) and get our gear sorted. We decide to take a quick dip in the sea which is lovely and a bit chilly but as flat as a millpond, but it’s not as cold as the freshwater pool that is located behind our camp. We all take a quick plunge and it is FREEZING! so cold in fact the beers and white wine are in their to chill for dinner!!

After putting on warm clothes, eating our yummy dinner, we sit on the beach and watch the stars coming out. We head along to a small cave and go to see the glow worms that are in there - amazing! As we sit back on the beach the stars are now out of force and it has to be the most incredible night sky we have ever seen with no light pollution at all - we even see a shooting star and a satellite heading across the sky. It’s then off to bed (in the loosest sense of the word) and try to sleep, something which proves quite difficult as the waves crash on the beach!

The morning arrives with rain....so its a quick dress, pack up and take down the tent, breakfast and then pack the kayaks and head back out to sea. Its a rough sea that we paddle out into and the drizzle falls all morning. We are a bit wet but the scenery, turquoise water and the seals (which are in fact sea lions) make up for that!

We stop for lunch and put dry clothes on and try and warm up with coffee and miso soup, then all too soon we have to put our wet skirts, tops and life jackets and off for more paddling to our final stop at Torrent Bay. Here we wait for the water taxi to collect us and take us back to base.

Our kayak/camping trip was brilliant (despite the rain!) and were very lucky to have the chance to see some amazing scenery and wildlife in such a great place...but the hot shower when we got home was very welcome!