Abel Tasman Kayaking - Nelson and Abel Tasman Weekend

After getting a great night's sleep at the best hostel in the history of hostels (seriously if you're ever in Nelson, check out the Prince Albert. It's wonderful), we headed out bright and early to do some kayaking over in Abel Tasman.

After initially getting extremely confused about which of the 20 buildings in the tiny little town was the one we were supposed to be in, we eventually got ourselves to our briefing where we were given a crash course in kayaking.

While the initial instruction was great, Gabe and I were easily still the slowest kayakers in our group. However, we probably also had the most fun since we sang and told bad jokes the whole time. We also almost managed to capsize our boat when we were trying to leave the beach after our hour long break for lunch.

Throughout the entire kayaking excursion, we cruised around to the north side of Adele Island in hopes of catching a glimpse of seals. We were able to see a few, but the tide was so high and the waves were just rough enough to where we couldn't stay in that area of the water for very long, let alone attempt to get on the beach. We also kayaked around Fisherman's Island, the much smaller island just to the south of Adele. We were told we might be able to see penguins there, but we weren't that lucky. We were able to see a seal feeding out in the open water though which was pretty fun to watch.

Also, at lunch I was able to pick up a Jellyfish! We think it was dead, but regardless the Jellyfish in this area don't sting. The texture kind of freaked me out (seriously it feels like I imagine a breast implant would feel like), but I'm glad that I can officially say I've held a one. 

Overall, this was a very athletic weekend so I was definitely glad to know that the next day would involve lots of sitting and not doing much exercise.