Day 4 NZ Abel Tasman
Well has life been one mind blowing whirl for a couple of days. I was not sure where I was or where I was going. T’wd seem i was going to Kaikoura from Christchurch. The driver (Mossie, as in mosquito!), said i was going up to Auckland from there etc etc. I don’t want to go there i say. Anyway we checked in at The Lazy Shag – me! Soon realised it was the bird! Very expensive at $26(£13) for the night. I had decided to do the fishing in the afternoon so paid my $94 – £46 and off we ( Christian, a Danish young man) were taken to see fur seals and then to Gerry’s, the fisherman. He took us to the boat where we fished with Dean and Craig. It was exhilerating! First we saw lots and lots of dusty dolphins who swam alongside us jumping and twisting in the air. Magical! Then we did the fishing after splashing at great speed out to sea. I had my line, felt a tug and gave 2 sharp pulls with the rod. Then came the hard bit, reeling it in! It took ages and i nearly gave up. But then, hey presto! My fish, yes my fish appeared!! It was an orange sea perch. There were 6 of us and we all caught fish – very hard not to apparently! We then went to pull up the crayfish boxes. Our crayfish were too small so we had to throw them back. No worries though as they had caught plenty in the morning. We went back to Gerry’s and were given copious amounts of the most amazing sauvignon blanc, shown how to drown the crayfish, cook it and chop it up. All very fascinating and very tasty! Much more wine later we were given our filleted fish and advised to go to the fish and chip shop and they would batter and fry our fish for a small fee. SO we had some amazing fish and chips! Being rather worse for wear i went to bed and slept in my clothes(shorts and tee) until 7 am when i got up and had a shower. I couldn’t find the tea bags i had brought with me so a girl there took pity on me and gave me one. I had some gingernut biscuits so that was my breakfast! We left at 9am and travelled to Picton where i joined a bus for Abel Tasman. We arrived about 6pm after stop to visit a winery and a supermarket shop. I am now at The Barn and i must say it is lovely here. No bunk beds, we are all on divans- 6 in a room. Apart from the 32degrees all went well apart from the bus having no air con. I was exhausted but enjoyed the barbeque we all cooked with our driver Happy! I had a shower and went to bed. No wifi as office closed. Today I have slept late, phoned Stray travel who continue to mess up my itinery, done my washing, caught up on emails/facebook and here, had a walk to beach and now going for a cuppa. It is very civilised here as I can make a pot of tea! Off in the morning to Westport. Might read up on that as i drink my tea if i don’t fall asleep -it is at least the same as yesterday, in the 30s. Pppffff!
Tags: Travel
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