Happy New Year - Off to an exciting new year 2018

With a little delay, we wish our loyal "followers" all the best in the new year, that all wishes and dreams come true and the positive experiences are in the majority!

We also started this in the new year and after a few relaxing days in Wellington, visiting the botanical gardens, the national museum and a very attractive harbor area, where we celebrated a small but interesting New Year's Eve party, we crossed to the South Island by ferry. The trip through the Cook Strait - named after its explorer James Cook - impressed once again with great views and a calm Tasman Sea, which spared us from seasickness. The destination was the town of Picton in the Marlborough Sound, a fjord area known for its wine growing region in the hinterland. But from there, we headed straight to the Abel Tasman National Park, where we had planned a 3-day kayaking trip on the Tasman Sea. Everything was organized and planned in advance. Unfortunately, the one thing we didn't have control over was the weather😯. Just starting from January 4th (the start day), there was a severe weather warning for half of New Zealand and also for our tour area. The organizer recommended shortening the tour by one day, spending the night at the campground in the national park, and then being picked up by boat after a night of storm and heavy rain☔😌! But we didn't want that, we decided to postpone the tour to next week and were rewarded for our decision that night. We spent the night in the tent and it poured down, we wouldn't have wanted to be on the sea and in the wilderness in this weather.

Now we have reorganized today and tomorrow we will hike on the Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sound for 5 days. When we reach the destination, we will return to the kayak station and hopefully be able to report on dream beaches and coves.

By the way, there is a funny tourist attraction in the national park. Tourists can also explore the area by water taxi. But since there is ebb and flow, people are put in the water taxi at low tide and driven along the road along the beach (see photo). So at least they get to see the sea from a distance😉.

In the last photo you can see a bird again. We would like you to tell us which bird it is. We will raffle a beautiful souvenir from New Zealand among all correct solutions, which we would be happy to personally hand over after our return. So join in and guess right🤓.

We are now very much looking forward to finally becoming active again, hiking and spending nights on lonely campsites. As always, some impressions of the last 2 weeks. And don't forget the competition!!!

Best regards Susi and Andreas

P.S. Susi received a belated Christmas present. The lost baseball cap on the Whanganui River could be replaced. The joy was boundless👧!