Went on a lovely day trip to Abel Tasman National Park with Stu from Kayak Tasman. We took a water shuttle at 10:30am from lovely but touristy Kaiteriteri Beach and did a lovely walk for about an hour to Anchorage Bay.

Then we read our books (I'm LOVING Return of the King!) and sunbathed a little in the almost perfect weather. It was a little cloudy so at least no one burned.

At 3:30pm, Stu picked us up and took us and the kayak to a sheltered bay to teach us the kayaking techniques we'd need. And then we were off! We paddled up-wind/up-current to Mosquito Bay where we stopped for afternoon tea of crackers, cheese and avocado (mmm, loving avocado!) and tea of course.

It was a lovely quiet beach and I felt really calm and relaxed, even with the slight burn of my muscles and the sea salt on my skin and in my hair, making it a matted mess. It was great!

Then it was my turn to be in the back of the kayak and try to steer. It was tough and kudos to Jaap for being much better at it. Don't tell him I said that.

We checked out Pinnacle Island and saw some cute New Zealand fur seals. Cute cute cute!

We got back quite quickly going back, having the wind at our backs! We enjoyed a few sun showers and there was this lovely rainbow as the sun was going down.... It was magic!

We stopped off for a BBQ dinner on board a nice little boat before heading back home.

Lovely day!

Today we're leaving Motueka, but stopped off first at the markets here. There are a few Dutch stalls so Jaap bought some Dutch cheese, so he can stop complaining about the cheese here. And we tried what they CALL "Olliebollen" but it wasn't really olliebollen (a Dutch "oil ball", literally, which is like a doughnut that Tim Horton's calls a "dutchie"). It was more like deep fried apple cake. Still yummy.

And now on to Picton. We're taking the ferry to Wellington (North Island) tomorrow night. I'm hoping to do a bit of a wine tour tomorrow in the Marlborough region. Let's see if Jaap will take me....