Hey Team We Like To Read About Stuff You Do,
How's it going!? I'm going well as always. Just trundling along, doing my Julia-thing. It's good times.
The last two days I trundled in Abel Tasman National Park. To be more precise I kayaked for a day, camped and walked all the way back (it took a day). I was supposed to be picked up at 8:50am on Thursday morning, and like a good lil' Canadian and an even better Koop I was late. But it was ok, cause they were even later picking me up. I actually had to get reception to call so I didn't get left behind.
I guess I should premise this whole thing with saying that I booked my kayaking/camping/walking trip about 7pm the night before I left. I was a bit (ok a lot) nervous about camping and walking 8 hours back completely alone. Because it's the off season, there is basically no one in the park and I was going pretty far into the park. So there, I was the night before comforting myself with the knowledge that at least I couldn't get eaten by a bear. In my books, that's totally a drawing card.
Anyway. I slept well, was up on time, and ready almost on time. I was finally picked up by a very brisk and stern looking dude and driven 5 minutes down the road to the kayak place. I met up with my guide and kayak group. I was very pleased to discover that there was one other girl that was going to do the full kayak and camp at the same spot as me! Huzzah! I now had a camping/walking buddy. I would not be getting eaten by a bear, and even better I would get to share that experience with someone. Additionally, I would not have to walk 8 hours alone on the second day.
In no time at all we were on the water and kayaking our super happy selves out to Bark Bay. The weather was incredible. Probably about 22 degrees with full on sun! Glorious. Our first half of the day was relatively uneventful. A lot of paddling, sun, water, islands, poor steering (totally me, yup, that was all woman driving), beaches and cute seals. I think we saw roughly 25 seals. Mostly adult females, but there were a couple babies. They were extremely cute. Looking at them and not cooing with delight was an extreme sport. After, we stopped for lunch at Watering Cove. It is named for a rock formation that looks like a kiwi drinking from the ocean. I took a picture. I'm just that good. Lunch was yummy and then I, Samantha, and our guide Colm were off and kayaking again. We made extremely good time so we hit up one more island before calling it a day. I'm so glad we did. We went about 3/4 of the way around a small island that this crazy dude kept blowing up for fun, when we finally saw what we were looking for. A couple baby seals just chilling on a rock. They posed and then dived into the water while I yelled "Stay still! Don't leave that rock! I want a picture!". They paid me no heed, but one of the little guys chased down our boat and spent the next 15 minutes froliking next to our boat, under our boat, and even against our boat. Absolutely incredible and without a doubt the highlight of my entire trip. Unfortunately, a large shark came by during the 15th minute and ate the cute, little, happy, baby seal right in front of us.
KIDDING! We left, I have no idea if a shark came and ate it. I suspect not.
We landed at Bark Bay around 4:30pm, picked up our gear that our water taxi had dropped off for us, and prepared to make camp. I was so glad that I had another cluesless girl with me. We had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to get our tent up and secure. It really wasn't hard, but it did take a bit of brainpower and a lot of giggles. We got a fire going, met a German dude, and were settled in the the pitch black by 6pm. In total, there are about 25 camp sites at Bark Bay and there were only the three of us staying there. It was awesome. Again, I was extremely thankful that I wasn't alone. The moon was full, the stars were bright, and I was quite enjoying myself. We hit the sack about 9pm and got up about 7:30. It was a cold night, and for some reason my arms were freezing, but I managed to get a half decent nights sleep and had enough energy for the morning. When we had finally packed our gear and put most of it out for the water taxi to pick up the sun was just coming above the trees and we could tell it was going to be another absolutely gorgeous day.
It was. We walked for about 8 hours to get back to Marahau were I am currently chilling and typing to you. The walk was mostly inland, with a couple breaks to the beaches. The views were stunning and the company was good. The German dude walked with us most of the way and we all talked about everything under the sun. Tourists, countries, religion, supersticious, body types, stereotypes. You name it. We talked about it. By the time we got back, my brain was sore from thinking, my legs were sore from walking, my feet were sore from being flat footed, my shoulders were sore from my pack, and I was feeling great.
Now I'm sitting in the hostel typing to you folk back home. I'll eventually get up and cook something. Then I'll continue to look for jobs in a couple places I want to stop at in the next couple of days. Then I'll go to bed, and get up early for a day of sailing in Abel Tasman. This are bright in this here Julia Land. The next couple of days should be quite fun. I look forward to it all.
I'm no longer going to Europe for those of you who know I was thinking about it. I'm still waiting for Air Pacific to do something about my return flight. (My emails are getting a bit terse). I'm missing Wellington. And I'm starting to think about life when I return to Canada. Good gracious what should I do team? No more Master's and Ph.D. I need a new direction. All suggestions are welcome.
Love and sea breezes,
Julia
open up a hostel in saskatoon?
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