We had no WiFi yesterday so this is the post for yesterday, Sunday December 16th.
This morning we woke up to learn that a fuse had blown in the middle of the night and none of our phones charged and the water wouldn't run. Luckily we had woken up with enough time to find an outlet that worked and charge for a bit.
After checking out of our room, we drove to Kaiteriteri for our full day sailing tour around the Abel Tasman National Park. I know what you're thinking, how are you going sailing all day when you got seasick kayaking!? Well, luckily I didn't feel queasy at all and it was such an awesome day.
Our tour only had 8 other people on board, plus the Captain, so we had plenty of room on the boat.
Our first drive out of the cove was to Split Apple Rock. It's basically a rock the looks just as it is named. I was the only one of the group to swim out to it. The Captain had warned me that the rocks around it are pretty sharp, and he was right. It was really hard to climb up it because my hands and feet hurt. But since I had already jumped into the chilly water, I couldn't just go back. So eventually I made it up (I'm sure it didn't look graceful) and Mesa did a good job as photographer. When I got back to the boat I noticed I had a few small cuts on my hands and the bottom of feet.
The morning was a little cold, and even more so after I was wet, but once the sun came out it was perfect.
Every view was amazing and the water was unbelievably blue. Almost that clear blue green color that doesn't ever really exist because it's been photo-shopped. Well, we found the real deal in NZ. Just stunning. We then sailed around to Anchorage for lunch. Mesa and I stayed on the boat and used our time after lunch to lay in the sun. Our other points of interest were Pinacle Island where we saw NZ Fur Seals laying on the rocks. There was one tiny little pup with it's momma, and a little off from that a large male fighting with a female. They're cute from afar but man the males look REALLY big.
We also went to Barks Bay and past Observation Beach. Every thing we went by was beautiful. We went into two shallow lagoons. One had a low tide walking trail marked that we rode past on the boat. But because it was so low it looked so clear.
We got back to the beach around 4:30 and started making our way to Punakaki. We anticipated the drive to take us 5 hours but the GPS said 3 1/2. It has been pretty accurate so far so we were really hoping it would stay the same this time round. The drive was still full of winding roads and amazing views and it felt like we were out in the middle of no where. There are these tiny towns you go through that just have a small general store and a few homes. So we made sure to fill on gas and get some food for driving before then.
During all of our driving we encountered many one-lane bridges. Most of them have been fairly short and going over rivers that have just a little bit of water running under them during this time of the year. But there was one we came across that had a stoplight telling you when to go. We get halfway across it and Mesa yells out, "Stop the car!" She hops out and takes probably 5 pictures and then asks me to take one of her! Luckily no one was coming this whole time but usually I'm going slow enough around these turns that there's easily 1 or 2 cars that catch up quickly and follow right on my bumper.
The drive probably would have been accurate to the GPS but when we were just about into Punakaiki we drove right along the West Coast Road and the sun was just starting to go down. It was gorgeous. The tide was beautiful and there was a light mist that was splashing on the rocks below. So naturally we pull over to take pictures and then hop into the car (that's been playing Christmas music for the last 45 minutes) and continue on our way. We probably stopped about 4 times on that road.
Our hostel knew we were checking in late, so we were lucky that they left a note for us on the door and our room was open and ready for us. The place looks like a cozy log cabin that you'd find up north and it's down this dark gravel road. We will have to see what it looks like in the daylight!
Now, time for bed!
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