On to Abel Tasman

I decide to head straight to Abel Tasman instead of going to Nelson. I stop in the town of Motueka which is the “gateway” town for Abel Tasman. I find an internet place and sit down and read my emails. I discover an email from Mark Hutton asking where I am. I had not gotten back to him telling him that I wasn’t going to make the Bay of Islands trip with him but now it’s too late and he has purchased the food. I send him an email telling him that I will cover his costs when I see him after coastbusters. I also decide that I will have to blow off Matt’s thing if I want to get to Auckland in time. So with those two things out of the way I feel free to go do Abel Tasman on my own. This trip really is about me doing things on my own anyway. I hit a few of the kayaking shops and asked about local information then I went up to Stevens Bay ( as small local’s only spot) and launched out for a evening paddle. I made it as far as fisherman’s Island ( about 5-6 km) and then headed back. I wanted to see how far I could get in an hour paddle. I returned back to Motueka and booked the campsite for the next night and spend the night with a bunch of other mini van travelers parked behind the information center. It seems that we are all in the same kind of vans, all set up the same way, the VW microbus of the new millennia. Actually you see them everywhere. It seems to me that there are more tourist traveling around New Zealand than Locals!