Yosemite National Park
Unsurprisingly it's called Mirror Lake
I’d always imagined this would be where Yogi Bear was found, you can imagine my disappointment when Olly broke the news to me that that is actually Yellowstone National Park! Oh well, I decided we should go there anyway.
After seeing all the stunning national parks in New Zealand, Olly and I weren’t too fussed about Yosemite, we’d heard it was meant to be nice but I kid you not, we were on the verge of not going. Bloomin’ good job we did! It was stunning.
If you’ve ever seen Ansel Adams black and white photography of flowing waterfalls and towering mountains then you’ve seen Yosemite, many of Ansel’s shots were taken there.
Once we entered the National park we drove through winding roads, carved out of snow capped mountains filled with flowers, above a winding river at the side of stunning waterfalls. We were in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by nature. The air was crisp and the atmosphere alive.
There were various places to stop around the park and various walks to do. Yosemite is home to one of the worlds tallest waterfalls, which of course we visited, but we opted for the 10 minute trot to the lower falls rather than the eight hour trek to the top. Besides the fact that we were all feeling a little bit tired, we were also wary of the bears that were advertised as being everywhere in the park. Not the cute cuddly ones like Yogi, the big grizzly mean ones!
The lower falls offered a great photo opportunity. The boys being boys decided to climb up the slippery rocks to the mouth of the waterfall, a bit risky but it made for some great photos.
After seeing the falls we headed on a walk to mirror lake which did exactly what it said, it mirrored the scenery perfectly. We all stopped at the side of the lake, taking rest on some stones and watched the reflection in the water, only being marred by fish swimming and making ripples in the surface of the water.
As the sun set we drove through the mountains and out of Yosemite feeling quite satisfied with our day with nature, if you’re thinking of going to Yosemite, make a weekend of it, take a proper pair of walking shoes and a bear proof tent, I guarantee you’ll have a great time.
Sea Kayaking in Abel Tasman
Our mighty vessel
When I thought of sea Kayaking, I’d imagined large waves, the sea splashing over our heads whilst we battled through with our oars. However, once again, what I’d worried about didn’t happen (can you see a pattern here?!). We had a wonderful day on the sea, and I was most upset when it it was over.
We began our sea kayaking adventure in Nelson, we’d checked in for the night, it was 9pm, we were discussing what we were going to do over the next couple of days. We had been told to do a sea kayaking trip of the Abel Tasman area and so had booked two nights in Motueka, the gateway to Abel Tasman, planning to book something for that day. However, upon looking into the weather, we realised we were going to have to do the trip the following day, from Nelson. The day we had planned to book for was set for rain, which would be no fun for a day on the sea! We gathered together our leaflets and started to call them one by one, to see firstly if anyone would pick up at that time, and secondly if anyone had space. The first couple thankfully did pick up but unfortunately didn’t have space for us. We were ringing in pirce order, so the more people we called, the more expensive the trips became. Finally, a lovely man named Pete from The Sea Kayaking Company in Motueka answered and confirmed, yes he could take us on a trip the next day, but it would be a whopping $200 each. Argh! We were so desperate, we agreed, then had a minor panic, and then did what we usually do – convinced ourselves we’ll easily pay the credit card man all this money back once we have jobs back home. If we were going to sea kayak anywhere, this is THE place to do it, why let money stop us?!
The next day we were up bright and early for the short drive up to Motueka. We made it just in time, checked in and got intruduced to our group of 8 and our guide for the day, Kim. Kim handed out some dry bags for our stuff, loaded us onto a coach and drove us down to the coast. From here we donned life jackets and were loaded onto a boat,… on the back of a tractor! certainly a first for me. The sea was so shallow that in order to get the boats out far enough into the sea to ‘go’, they are pulled on trailors by tractors. There were 5 tractors sitting out in the ocean at the time we arrived, a rather strange sight!
Once we reached deep water, our tractor off loaded us and off we went. It was a twenty minute ride to where we would start our kayaking adventure. It was a cloudy day and as the speed boat zoomed across the water, the cold air gushed in. Abel Tasman is a National Park with hardly any inhabitants, the coast line was beautiful, deserted beaches, surrounded by cliffs covered in varying varieties of trees.
Upon arrival at our beach, we donned our outfit for the day, a rubber ’skirt’ which would help to keep our bums dry as we rowed, a 1980’s style waterproof and a life jacket. We were reassured that it was very unlikely that the kayak would capsize, but just incase, Kim took us through a drill to ensure that we would know what to do should this happen. Having passed the drill and after a short lesson on how to row (which is actually rather complicated), we loaded ourselves into our kayak and went off into the water.
Olly and I had a double kayak, the person that sits at the front, rows, the person that sits at the back rows and also has control of the peddles, which steer the boat from left to right. As you may have guessed, Olly sat at the back and I sat at the front.
I found kayaking surprisingly easy, it was tough on my arms and I’m sure I used muscles that day which I have never used, but it was really good fun. The sea was really calm and in fact whenever a boat came by Olly and I would turn ourselves into the wake in order to ‘ride’ the waves, it was great fun.
The first stop was Tonga Island which was laden with seals. We kayaked all the way around the island at a very leisurely pace. Kim gave us information about the seals which were all female, having just given birth they were rearing their young alone, the male seals had been kicked off the island as they were too troublesome! It was fantastic watching the seals from the sea, in their territory, some seals came out into the sea to play, they were spinning and diving right next to our boat.
After the seals, we headed back to the coastline and meandered along, passing numerous deserted beaches. We stopped at mosquito bay for delicious chicken and Camembert sandwiches, carrot cake and a game of frisbee. Unfortunately the tide was going out which meant our scheduled kayak down a river could not take place, but we did get to explore more coastline which was breathtaking.
After lunch Kim told us to watch out for penguins as some had been seen recently in the area, just after this, low and behold, we saw four penguins, one swam right next to our kayak!! They were sitting on the water, darting down every so often, hunting for fish, It was great to see the penguins in the water, we felt really lucky.
Kayaking was such a peaceful day, really relaxing, it was time to sit back and take stock. I was really upset when Kim told showed us our landing spot on a beach which came into sight far too quickly, I could have kayaked for hours. The rest of our group (obviously a lot richer than us) were staying on at the beach, camping out ready for a another day of hiking and more kayaking the next day. We said goodbye to them and loaded ourselves onto a water taxi which took us right back to the start.
If you are going to Abel Tasman, it would be a crime not to sea kayak the coast. If you’re thinking about it, do it and do it for as long as you can afford. Olly and I were sad to leave and if we could have stayed for a second day we would have. I would recommend the Sea Kayak company, especially our guide Kim, she was one of the best guides we’ve had our whole trip.
All the paragraphs are by Lau, all the pixels are by Olly. Hope you enjoyed it! You can read more about us on the