Abel Tasman national park

What a day. We finally decoded to be more adventurous than normal and book a sea kayaking trip. The guy who took our booking was born in Penarth. Small world.

Jack, our boat driver commented to an Israeli passenger that NZ has its own problems, We were transported by fast water taxi to our start point on Observation beach. Then at the back there was loud jazz (Ella Fitzerald) music coming from a house nearby. Jack said this is Tim and music is playing 24/7. 'This is one of NZ problems isolation'.

And here we are

Argiris was lucky enough to see a Blue Penguin flying through the water. They are extremely rare and native to NZ.

The plan was that we had lunch before setting out on our adventure. It tasted fabulous, grated carrot and beetroot sandwich, followed by carrot cake with chocolate topping. Clear safety instructions made us feel (relatively) safe. A two man kayak needed skilful manoeuvres from the back, so that was my job ( no Greek driving on the Tasman sea).

We spent a delightful two hours being guided by Awita ( sorry, probably mis spelt).

Our first sighting was of a baby seal sunbathing on a rock but no photo sorry, I hadn''t plucked up the courage to let go of the paddle to take a photo, by this point. We continued on our journey seeing several Eagle Rays.

As we were approaching our base we saw these two lovely penguins and our day was complete. ( you might need to zoom in to see them)

Perfect day.