As The Travel Tester, I love to try out products, accommodation, tours and activities all around the world! To give you the best advice on whether you should use them as well, I’ve created a short test report. Not only will you find all the information you need to book or buy yourself, but I will also show you my experience and tell you what for type of traveller this product or service is suited best.
Today, we’re looking at the Kayak trip Nick and I did in the Abel Tasman National Park on the South Island of New Zealand. We did this back in 2008, but you can still book a similar tour with this company today! Scroll down to find out more.
Abel Tasman National Park: Scenic Kayaking New Zealand
Company Name: The Sea Kayak Company
Website: seakayaknz.co.nz
Tour Name: Paddle & Hike
Tour Website: seakayaknz.co.nz/g9.html
Number of Days: 2
Price: $265 per person dinner bed and breakfast. (dorm style accommodation) semi catered, or $300 per person dinner bed and breakfast. (private double) semi catered. Check all prizes here, as they have many different tours!
Start: The Sea Kayak Company at 506 High Street, Motueka, then depart from Marahau, New Zealand
End: Marahau, New Zealand
Location:
The Travel Tester in Action:
The tour we did back in 2008 still exists, but some changes have been made. We started in Marahau, with a paddle to Anchorage bay, overnight stay at the house boat and a hike to Onetahuti the next day (although we never made it there, read the story below to find out why!), followed by a water taxi return to Marahau.
These days, you start with a water taxi ride to Onetahuti, where you paddle back to Anchorage, stay overnight and end the tour with a hike back to Marahau. Seems like a good change!
Day 1
We get assigned a sea kayak and load our gear into waterproof bags. Don’t forget the sandwiches :)
Nicks shows the kayak gear
And we’re off. The scenery is stunning right away:
Our Guide
Good Team Work!
We take a break at one of the idyllic beaches and get a sandwich and a slice of carrot cake. Now we have energy enough to paddle a bit further!
We even came past a penguin! Can you spot him? (Clearly we’re not wildlife photographers)
When we arrive at Anchorage bay, we are happy to see our boat for the night… well… actually this is not it. Check the video to see the real one :)
Anchorage bay is absolutely stunning. We take a short hike up the hill (high enough after so much paddling) and enjoy the view for a while…
Happy we made it, time for a BBQ on board… and a nap! In the evening, the owner of the boat asks us if we would like to see some glowworms, of course we do! We jump on his rubber boat and he shows us a secret cave with glowing green worms (I think it’s their poo you see glowing actually, but still… pretty cool)
Day 2
We set out bravely for a couple hours hike today. The people at the kayak centre told us the weather would be ‘less good’, but soon we learn this actually means ‘all hell is about to break loose and your underwear will be dry again around March’. Even my binbag raincoat couldn’t handle it.
Never thought rain could get you so wet. The hike was supposed to be over 5 hours, but we had to give up after just 4 because we just couldn’t get any wetter. Unfortunately, also every single thing we carried (including camera and passport) got soaked and had to wait at the cabin at Bark Bay for over an hour to catch the water taxi back. The waves were insane though, as they rolled up above (!) the back of the boat! Never been so scared in my life.
But it wasn’t over. We had to then wait about an hour (wearing our soaking wet clothes) at the taxi centre, before our bus back to the kayak centre would arrive… but even then it didn’t, so someone offered to bring us by car. Arriving at the kayak centre, we waited another 2 (!!) hours for another bus to bring us to the hostel, but that seemed to have broken down. And they also kind of forgot us. When the bus finally arrived, it had to make a detour because there was a big accident on the road. Absolutely knackered, we arrive in the hostel to finally change our clothes and get some food…
… but the lady from the kitchen tells us that they cannot serve us, because they have a big group coming in. We lose it there and pull her over the bar, well almost… but somehow we did end up with a plate of fish & chips. And that’s all we asked for.
Back in the hostel… drying every single item we carried.
Curious to see more? Check out this video we made:
(you can choose English subtitles!)
The Verdict:
Ok, so we didn’t have such as great experience because of the extremely bad weather the second day and all that went wrong around our pickup that day.
But we did see one of the most beautiful National Parks of the world, we had loads of fun kayaking to Anchorage bay, a nice lunch at a secluded beach, enjoyed our unique house boat stay (which was almost empty, so we got a room of our own), saw glowworms in a secret cave and a cute little penguin on the way. We also met some great people on the boat and had a BBQ and some beers, which is never a bad idea. If you like getting active on your travels, get a bit away from it all and you’re reasonably fit, then this is definitely something for you.
So I will recommend the tour to you. But perhaps check the weather forecast a bit better than we did and bring proper rain protection, because the tour is quite expensive, so you don’t want to end up like us wasting most of the enjoyment of it!
Are you a kayaking fan? Would you choose to do a kayak trip in the Abel Tasman National Park?
Brochure Sea Kayak in Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand
View large files of page 1 – page 2 – page 3 – page 4 – page 5 – page 6 – page 7 – page 8 – page 9 – page 10
Download the entire brochure in PDF format
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John Spear
Sunday 8th of March 2020
Nederland is indeed packed with beautiful things and scenery... I just visit ones and loved kayaking and exploring the water... thanks for the detailed list... would be saving till I visit again :)
Shawna
Tuesday 15th of May 2018
Currently planning a trip out that way and this definitely looks like something I need to add to the list. Thanks for all the details - seems like a good price for the tour.
Nienke Krook
Thursday 7th of June 2018
Great to hear we could help Shawna. Hope you have an amazing trip!
James
Saturday 30th of September 2017
Nice post, great story. Sounds like a great place for adventure, I'm just starting kayaking so I may try it soon. Thanks for sharing PD: Nice photos!
Nienke Krook
Tuesday 28th of November 2017
Thanks so much James!
Tim
Wednesday 14th of June 2017
Tasman National Park is popular. I went there several times and enjoyed a lot. But didn't try kayaking for a while. Afer reading this post, I am very much interested in making a kayaking tour to Tasman National Park. Hope I will make this kind of kayaking tour for the next time.
Nienke Krook
Friday 16th of June 2017
Great to hear Tim! I hope you'll have a great time at the park!
David Hamburg
Tuesday 16th of August 2016
Still looks like a great place for an adventure, minus the weather no doubt. But your photos are so awesome, they make it seem like it's still a good idea to go there. Plus your faces look like you're having tons of fun. Hope I can kayak there as well one day.
Nienke Krook
Tuesday 30th of August 2016
Thanks David! It's a great place and hope you get the chance to visit one day!