28/03/09

Got up at 7 and rushed around to pack our bags for the day. We drove back to Marahua and arrived bang on time to catch the water taxi at 9am. We were all given life jackets and then towed out to sea whilst in the speed boat by a tractor. Our first stop was at Split Apple Rock, all the rocks are complete granite and this one looks as though it was a huge boulder that fell and cracked in two when it landed but remained in place just split down the middle. While we were there we saw plenty of the local birds called Shags.

We sped along the coast of Abel Tasman to the northern most point. On the way we noticed that Coops was wearing her glasses with her sun glasses on her head, she looked ridiculous. Burns had the 'window' seat and was freezing cold and couldn't open his eyes because of the force of the wind on his face. Every time we went through a trough in the waves we splashed down and a huge rainbow appeared behind us. We got to Tonga Bay and stopped briefly and the Tonga Seal colony on the island nearby and were then dropped off on the beach.

The walking commenced, while we were walking Burns started waffling on about how pointy boots weren't made for walking over roots and big boots were best for pointy roots. We walked from Tonga Bay to Bark Bay and then from Bark Bay to sandfly Bay and then on to Torrent Bay. We stopped off at loads of other little places on the way, many view points involving much climbing over roots and slippery loose gravel. Helen has by far taken over from Coops in the clumsy department, every step she takes I think she's going to hit the floor, all because her trainers have pretty much no tread and may as well have been polished. We got to a place called Frenchman Bay and I climbed over some rocks to get a better view. From where I was the water looked so clear, I could see rocks on the bottom that must have been 5 metres deep. I dipped my foot in and it was freezing, but it looked too nice not to dive in so I went for it, very refreshing. The views were amazing, very similar to Thailand.

When we got to Torrent Bay we had about an hour to spare so we sat around on the beach for a bit until the sand-flies became too much to bear, then we all went off to explore the rest of the beach. I went for another little rock climb and when I returned found Coops fully clothed in what to begin with looked like leggings and a hoody, but as I got closer realised that she had her hoody on her legs, with her legs actually through the arms holes and Rich's Cardigan on. She looked like a right old granny but she didn't care because the sand flies weren't getting to her legs any more. She got some very funny looks from a few others on the beach. The tide here goes out very fast and very far, before we knew it, it had gone out a good couple of hundred metres and had left loads of sand dunes. We waited for the water taxi to pick us up again at 4 and worked out that we had walked 14km. On the way back the driver attempted to drive the boat up into the transporter without stopping and ended up hitting it so fast and hard we all thought the hull had broken, he had to reverse it out, soaking us all in the process then drive it back in slowly.

We got back to the info centre in town and decided to park up in the campsite opposite to charge the battery up again. Whilst I was turning the van around Ben, whom we met in Maze in Sydney, walked past so I hopped out and we had a chat. He couldn't believe how much space we have in the camper, we're forever moaning about it, but from the sound of what he has we are living in serious luxury. We parked up and spent the evening sorting out laundry before, the dryers were s*** though and as it was fairly late we couldn't hang it outside so the van turned in to a laundrette, you couldn't open a single cupboard or drawer without someones pants falling on your head.