Tuesday, March 5 - Kayaking day 5

     We packed our stuff into the kayaks for the last time and headed south to our pick-up spot.  Since we had plenty of time and a north breeze, we could take time to explore parts of the coast we had worked so hard to traverse on our first day.

Kristy checks out a cave.  No her boat isn't sinking,  just down in a slight
wave valley.  We got to experience some really big ones later in the day.

This small flotilla of kayaks pulled up on a beach shortly after we did.
Abel Tasman is a very popular place for kayaking, and when you get
nearer to Marahua, the put-in spot for kayaking, you see a lot more of
the one and two day kayakers.

Mother and daughter exhibit excellent form in synchronized rock jumping

Now, who do you think Kristy gets her looks from?  Diana ...

... or me?

We knew we were taking a chance to cross Sandy Bay to go check out Split
Rock.  The wind was really picking up and our return trip would have the
seas and wind hitting us broadside.  But it was a sunny day, the water isn't
too cold, and if we got wet, we'd be back in our van in a few hours.

    We found out that the spray skirts do really work, for the most part.  Several times we had big waves wash in from the side and actually break just as they hit us.  It was pretty exciting.   As we crossed the bay we got to turn in towards the beach, and now the waves and wind were at our backs, and a couple times we caught a breaking wave and surfed towards shore. They weren't really all that big, I don't think anyone would actually paddle out on a board to surf there.  But it was quite a thrill for us.

     We got back a couple hours before our scheduled pick-up time.  We could have paddled around a bit more, but with the strong wind and waves we decided to call it quits and eat lunch.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Umm mm.

It's a good thing we stayed.  Our ride came nearly an hour early.  On the short
trip back to the van we passed this venerable old tractor!

     We went back to the same campground we'd stayed at before we left.  It is run by a wonderful woman, Irene, who sold her catering business in the Christchurch area after the earthquakes, and bought the small campground to get a new start with her life.  She brought 37 of her chickens with her, and they run around the grounds, along with a half dozen cats.  Irene is about our age, round and very energetic.  Some of the people staying in the tiny cabins are sort of lost, damaged souls, but we could tell that Irene has taken them under her wing and served as a mother hen for them, keeping them busy, cheering them up, and helping them be part of a family.  And she welcomes temporary visitors with the same warmth. 

     On our second day there she gave us 7 or 8 eight eggs, "fresh from the girls".  And on our last night there she made a scrumptious raspberry cake with cream topping that she doled out to everyone in the campground.  

We met Stephanie and Nadine, two German girls picking fruit and traveling
around NZ.  We had a lot of nice "kitchen talk", as Nadine put it, while we
were there.

I made Kristy beef stroganoff for her last 'Dad cooked'
meal, then we topped it off with Irene's delicious cake.