Abel Tasman National Park-Marahau

Yesterday we decided to take a hike throught the National Park to Apple Tree Bay. It took us a little over  an hour and we found a secluded spot on the beach. The beach stretches for miles here and it was so nice -that it wasn't crowded. It got to be about 77-80 degrees and we spent a few hours at the beach and then decided we better pack up and go so we didn't get a sunburn. Well, we both got pretty sunburned on our legs so it's a bit uncomfortable today!
Today we got up and met at Kaiteriteri at  for our kayaking excursion. This was one adventure I was in charge of booking about 6 weeks ago. When we got up to the "Wilson's Kayak" booth they didn't have any such booking number but were kind enough to check with their neighbor booth and they had the booking number--except we were supposed to be back at Marahau station and not in Kaiteriteri! So, the kayak booth we were supposed to be at was literally right next door to the Lodge in Marahau we are staying at! For luck we took the water taxi and caught up with our group at Tonga Island. Our guide's name was Garrith and it was pretty ironic but he lived in MN for a few months about a year ago. It was pretty neat to be able to talk about common things from home with our tour guide! We also originally thought our tour was a half day but then realized we were signed up for the full-day tour. We kayaked for a couple hours, had lunch with the group, and then hiked a different area of the Park. We had a nice and small group with just two other couples-one from Holland and one from England. We had quite a full day and had dinner at one of the two cafe's here in town called the Park Cafe. We may head back later to check out if they have music playing being it's Saturday night here.

Tomorrow we are considering going to Golden Bay which would be about an hour's drive. It's supposed to be another nice day as far as the weather goes. So far we've loved Queenstown and Marahau the best. It's been such a great time!