Simon's despatch no. 3: Abel Tasmin

It's been a very aquatic five days. First
we were supposed to kayak the Abel Tasmin trail but there was more water falling from the sky than in the sea. So we delayed it by a day and went to see the largest natural water spring in Australasia.

15,000 litres of water per second erupts from the ground every second to create a river from no-where! Sounds really impressive but as it's spread across a number of upwellings it just looks like a jacuzzi with the bubble bit broken. And because of the 15,000 litres of rain falling from the sky we couldn't see through the giant periscope to see the vent itself due to all the ripples on the water. Ah well.

The next day was thankfully stunning! So we kayaked out to fishermans island across azure blue seas to our own private paradise beach. After half an hour (long enough for me to find some flotsam that could hold my weight to play robinson crusoe on) the tide consumed the beach and it was time to move on.

The Abel Tasmin is a stretch of coast that has beautiful whitish beaches surrounded by lush forests and nothing but a track joining them together. The only things to disturb the peace are other kayakers and the bl**dy sandflies!

Hmm yes sand flies... Maori legend says they were sent to protect the beautiful west coast of New Zealand from people and I'm inclined to agree! Sandflies are little black flies slightly larger than a midge that have developed an annoyingly stupid method of feeding.

First they bite a chunk out of you and spit in it to stop the blood from coagulating, then they take 2 minutes to fully feed by licking the blood up from the open wound.

Now as only the most inhebriated person wouldn't feel the bite you can at least get satisfaction from the knowledge that at least the damned thing died on an empty stomach! :)

Anyway the miles of kayaking was good fun, especially the "mad mile" which was a stretch around a headland which exposed you to the full force of the wind and waves. Dissappointingly no killer whales popped up to check us out (apparently it does occasionally happen).

Overnight we slept in a houseboat, that I christened the 'uboat' as the bed was so short I had to sleep in a u shape, but it was worth it for the bbq dinner.

We returned to the van via the tramping track which was not nearly as good as the views from kayaking (future travellers take note). Then began the four hour drive to kaikoura to swim with dolphins.