All things come to an end and it was time to start heading off the southern Island, but we managed to book a half-day of kayaking in Abel Tasman before that so off we drove after checking out. Abel Tasman is a rather large area where one easily could spend weeks trekking or kayaking but time was limited so we went for the main event, seeing split apple rock, combined with a bit of kayaking.

We had lunch at a café called Shoreline, and obviously had to play the song (went for Anna Ternheim’s cover) while waiting for the food. After finishing food it was time to wait for Kayaking tour (Kaiteriteri Kayaks) to get sorted out which took some time unfortunately – which always seems to be the case whenever there a group activities and at least it wasn’t our fault this time.

Howdy Partner!

After a quick and efficient safety walkthrough we were off in the water – mental note is to go for the dry-jackets rather than use the pro-shell next time. Or at least ensure the cuffs are tight since it wasn’t long before I got a nice splash of water on the inside and got soaked. It wasn’t really cold while moving but let’s just say I’d rather not take a swim just yet.

The Split Apple Rock of course had it’s local story of how it came about, something about a sea-monster egg and gods of land and sea competing and accidentally hitting it so it cracked – geologist claim there was a streak of softer rock and sometime during the previous ice age it cracked due to ice pushing the other halves apart. Nevertheless, a impressing piece of rock.

After tea and slacking at the beach we paddled back, still as a married couple, despite only one of us had blisters afterwards and sore while both claiming to worked hard and synchronized.

It was a good half-day and after meeting up with parents and Juni we packed the car and I switched to dry clothes and headed off towards Picton. We went for the older, more scenic, route and stopped to look at the view a few times as dusk sat in. Finally we reached Picton and checked in at what our neighbor called “The Penthouse” – a really nice flat that we would use over the night but at least dad could get some hours of sports from the TV.