Hey everyone! Well, it has been a busy week. I just returned from a wonderful three day kayaking trip up the Abel Tasman National Park. Tell you all about it in a second. We left Franz Josef last week and gave this guy, Ben a ride up with us to Greymouth on the West Coast. It rained all day long! I mean RAINED ALL DAY LONG. So, when we arrived. We had nothing else to do but walk to Monteith's Brewery and do the brewery tour. The tour was a lot of fun and the beer really good. We walked our soaking bodies back to the hostel. Jumped in the spa for a bit to warm up and then started making dinner. David and I intended on staying in Greymouth for one night, but as the evening continued we felt so at home that we decided to stay one more day. As it turned out, we spent the entire evening playing cards and hanging out with some new found friends until the wee (Kiwi word) hours of the morning. We met a great group of people who became almost like a temporary family for two days. John from Scotland, Florin from Germany, Mike and Andy from Colorado, Kathryn and Bennett from Alabama, Ben from Canada, and some Swiss guys (who just sat on the porch and played guitars all night). The group of us together was hilarious! The hostel staff was not too happy about our late night gathering though. The hostel, by the way was the best hostel I have ever stayed in. It was really clean, decorated in a neat African motif, friendly staff, comfortable living areas, and they gave us homemade chocolate chip muffins each night! Yum, yum! The following day, the entire group decided to go on a cave tubing trip. John and I wanted to go and play some golf instead, because the rain finally cleared out. Also, the cave trip was fairly pricey and I wasn't too keen (another NZ word) on going through small spaces. Anyway, the golf thing didn't work out because it was flooded out from all the rain. A bunch of us took the hostel's kayaks out on the river in the morning for a quick spin around. Then the group left for their trip. Mike and Andy were hilarious. The best way to describe them is that they are two free spirited individuals who have such big hearts. Andy shows up ready to go, barefooted with nothing but a shirt on and a pair of pants rolled up. Everyone else has bags, towels, water bottles, cameras, etc. So, they went on their way, but John and I decided to go on a 3 ½ hour hike instead. The Point Elizabeth coastal hike was beautiful. At the turnaround point, we stopped over in a real local pub. Met Whip and Andy there. They were two local farmers who were interesting to talk to. We hung out, shot some pool, had a few Monteiths, and then made our way back before dark. This night was just a chill night for everyone. It was difficult to say goodbye to everyone the next day. We found comfort in spending time together. David and I drove in another rainy day to Motueka up near Abel Tasman National Park. Motueka was the first town that I have come across in New Zealand that I didn't care too much for. It is a town where a lot of fruit pickers come in from all over the world and make their home for a few months. Very strange place and we didn't pick the best hostel to stay in either. There was also this guy in our room, who kept us up all night snoring loudly. It was an early day on Saturday. Luckily, the rain finally ceased and it looked as though we were going to have a decent day. We arrived for our three-day kayaking adventure into Abel Tasman National Park. We met our guide, KP and began to get our kayaks prepared. David and I ended up being the only ones on the trip. First day was fun. We stopped at several beaches along the way. KP took me on a couple of really cool hikes on the coastal trail to some overlooks. KP is part Maori and knew a great deal about the history of the Maori people in the local area. He also provided us with a bunch on information on the local plant life and animals. We ended up paddling for about 4 hours to make camp at a bay called Anchorage. We made some yummy dinner and then tried for about an hour to build a fire. The wood was wet, so that is why it took that long. The stars that evening were absolutely amazing. Also, we took a night walk on the beach to a cave at the end of the bay where we got to see some glowworms. They were really cool. They look like tiny little stars in the cave. I got up early since we were camping and the day was bright and sunny! We made eggs, bacon, and some much needed coffee. I love breakfast food while camping!!! Then we packed it all up to do a grueling day out on the sea. First stop was a beautiful little cove where we kayaked up river to see some of the Abel Tasman Coastal track. We crossed the Mad Mile, which were fairly rough waters. I didn't realize how much harder sea kayaking could be. We circled around Tonga Island where we got to see lots of wild life mostly seals and the birds (spotted shag). We spent more time on the water then we made camp at Medlands Bay. I took a walk through the bush to Bark Bay and over to another overlook. It was a great hike. Pasta for dinner, played some cards, had a glass of wine, looked at the beautiful night sky, and then I was off to bed again. Our final day began even earlier. I awoke in time to see the sunrise over the ocean. Just incredible! The day was another warm and sunny one. We were very fortunate on our weather for the trip, because it had rained for a week straight before we arrived. The last day was just a long paddle back to the starting point. We did take our time and made some great stops along the way. We even had a couple of seals follow us around Adele Island. They were so cute. The water could not have been any more perfect. Still as glass all day. It was much easier to paddle on water like that. I absolutely loved every minute of the trip. I fell in love with the ocean all over again. I have no idea how I ever moved away from it up in Virginia. David was quite ready to be done by the end of it. I didn't let that bother me though. I think that this trip will be the most memorable of all my journeys through New Zealand.