3/3/15

Dear Diary,

One of the great things about being with family who are traveling too is that they have a car so we can do interesting little jaunts out of town. Like head slightly out of Nelson out to Able Tasman National Park and take a scenic ride in a water taxi.

A half hour drive to Marahau saw us in the Water taxi office in plenty of time to start the day on the high seas. After booking and paying for the journey on the office we were told to wait around the back in the car park for the boat. We all scratched our heads about this but deferred responsibility and stood in the open car park anyway waiting for a boat to arrive (There must be an inlet close by and someone will walk us to it.) It was surprising to see a tractor arrive with a water taxi boat on a trailer behind it. It was slightly more surprising that the Skipper encouraged us to board the boat in the car park and made us all put on life jackets (a bit of a test of logic at that time in the morning) but most surprising was when the tractor drove off down the main road of town towing us on a boat. And not just around the corner where we expected an inlet to be but a mile down the road. I started thinking that only in New Zealand could you call something a water taxi and end up driving on the road all the way up the coast! but then the loading ramp came into view, the tractor reversed the trailer into the water, unhooked the boat and we were away, dry feet and all.

First stop Kaiteriteri bay to check out Split Apple Rock, a huge boulder sitting just off the beach shore that slightly resembles an apple that has been split, very neatly, directly down the middle. Like a giant knife had cut it in half. It’s visually impressive but we were distracted from looking at it too long as just a few hundred meters from it there was a pod of dolphins playing and splashing around. As the water taxi sauntered over to the dolphins, taking care not to disturb them, Murray hands me his camera and says I can take some photos if i like. I’m traveling without a camera on this trip as I wanted to be present for the experience and not live life through a lens. While I have missed many a great photo opportunity I have put it down to ‘one for the memory’ and enjoyed the moment. Looking through the lens of Murray's big expensive camera waiting for a dolphin to come out of the water, directly in frame, so I can become wildlife photographer of the year I can hear gasps of other people looking elsewhere as they watch a dolphin doing something amazing, just reminds me that of the exact reason why I’m traveling without a camera on this trip. I stop looking through the lens to tell Murray this .... and a dolphin pops out of the water, directly in frame ... and I miss the shot!

I spend the next five minutes missing more shots before giving it up as a bad idea and just enjoying the sight of dolphins frolicking in their natural habitat. One for the memory.

Heading back up the coast we drop Murray of at a beautiful and secluded bay called Watering Cove so that he can do the bush walk back to town from there and live out his fantasies of being a bush tucker man. Mum and I stay on the boat and enjoy the scenery.

Up the coast the water taxi stops at plenty of bays, beaches and coves and pick people up and drop people off. It’s a popular and well utilized service but booking ahead is a good idea as every now and then the boat gets full and people get left behind to wait for the next water taxi to come along, probably in about half an hour or so. The scenic tour certainly is scenic and Skipper Nick is full of information and chat and is an excellent tour guide stopping to point out interesting things, relate information about what the national park does and taking regular detours to spot natural wildlife. Seals are spotted including a little baby seal pup looking all cute wandering away from, and then back to, its mother but the real highlight of the trip was seeing a Blue Penguin swimming, chasing prey, in its natural environment.

I’ve no idea how Skipper Nick saw it as we were speeding along on the open water but suddenly he cuts the engine and we come to a (not screeching but whatever the water equivalent is ) stop and points over the side and says “Blue penguin.” and just as he says it a little penguin surfaces right beside the boat, says hi, before disappearing under the water again only to resurface again 20 meters away. No chance for a photo. I didn't even bother. It was there for only a moment. One for the memory.

Blue penguins are the smallest of the penguins and this one was only about 30 centimeters long. Didn't get a long look at it before it swam off again but I’m pretty sure it was the cutest thing I’ve seen on this adventure so far.

More beautiful scenery and more marine life later (oh look, a stingray. It’s a big one too.) we eventually head back to our starting port. The tide has gone out now and the tractor with a trailer is waiting for us on the beach about a kilometer away from the street loading ramp. From high tide to low tide is a five meter fall at Marahau, the highest in all of New Zealand. Skipper Nick must have loaded this boat on the trailer a thousand times but it seems like he’s approaching it awfully fast and we all brace ourselves for impact ... which is smooth and simple and expertly done. Another ride on the boat being towed through town (its like being on a hay ride at a rubbish country show!) before we are booted off in the car park we started in. Murray is waiting patiently for us having survived using only his wits and living off the land for the three hour walk back from the beach.

Back home we have heard that the Australia V. Afghanistan is going to be shown on the one sports channel our accommodation has provided. we check the schedule and wait for it to come on. Its not due to start until 7:30pm local time as its a day night game held in Perth which has a 5 hour time difference to new Zealand. When the start time comes and goes and there's no sign of competitive fishing ending anytime soon we recheck the schedule only to find that the Oz V Afg game isn’t until tomorrow and that there is no cricket due to be broadcast on out TV at all tonight. Annoyed about mixing the schedule up and disappointed at not being able to see how Ireland manage against South Africa (a quick check of the score reveals that South Africa doing very well with the batting!) and bored beyond belief at the detective show mum insists on watching, I call it a day and promptly fall asleep.





"Look for the ridiculous in everything and you will find it." Jules Renard - (1864 - 1910)