South Island, New Zealand

For about 10 days in December 2006, Richard and Alex kayaked the Rotoroa Lake (Nelson Lake National Park), the Abel Tasman coast and a section of the Marlborough Sounds. They are all within 2 hours drive from the Nelson Area.

Rotoroa Lake was to be Alex’s first ever kayaking experience in a lake. Prior to that, he had imagined a lake to have the calmness of a mirror that one would usually see on postcards. Images of canoeists sitting with their fishing rods (in canoes, not kayaks) with wide-brimmed hats while enjoying their cheese and biscuits and chardonnays were just not what one would always get to indulge in, at least not when the 2 kayakers were there!

Owing to the geographical nature of the lake that sits at 450m surrounded by hills, the wind can turn nasty faster than you could say “kayak”! For Alex, the conditions of the water came as a little surprise to him as he had seen too many postcards but Richard had said that it could get even rougher! It was not a shock to Richard of course.

We stayed the night at the Sabine Hut operated by the DOC (Department of Conversation) on the other end of the Lake. No sooner had we reached the shore than the army of sand flies that had been waiting to feast on us. Looking at sand flies, mosquitoes and flies, the first were probably the easiest to hit with one’s palm followed by the mossies and then the flies in that order. But, they are all irritating. That’s 1 thing in common.

The un-manned Sabine Hut was another surprise to Alex. It actually was more comfortable than some of the guesthouses that Alex had stayed in during his travels. It was complete with tables, chairs, a kitchen, washing basins, running water and dormitory-style beds with mattresses.

And, there was not any graffiti!

Alex then told Richard and his mate, Harold that such a well maintained un-manned hut would never exist in Singapore! If Singaporeans were there, there would definitely be remarks like “XXX was here” on the tables or mattresses, plus, the removable furniture would certainly have been removed without permission of the relevant authorities.

Months ago, when Alex had escorted a group of kayakers that May was coaching to Pulau Ubin for an overnight camp, he had seen a wooden table(probably Nparks’) on Mamam beach that had a burnt hole half the size of the table top! Someone with probably no common sense (Alex is being polite with his words here!) had probably BBQ-ed the table!

Months later, Alex was at the same spot, this time round, Nparks had replaced the table with a stone one.

Abel Tasman is the much publicized coast that is famed for its kayaking (with seals) and picturesque beaches that have been translated into many brochures, travelers’ guides and postcards. Many travelers from all over the world come to Abel Tasman for its kayaking that they sometimes combine with tramping (trekking) with the support of water taxis.

The 2 kayakers spent some 5 days exploring the coast of Abel Tasman from Keyteriteri to Mutton Cove. On at least one morning, they were getting ready (after breakfast and tea of course) by their kayaks at 0630am just waiting for the first rays from the sun to illuminate the water. That was necessary as they were in a portion of the Abel Tasman that had a tendency to get really rough. Usually the seas become rough at about 11 o’clock- that’s where the slang “11 o’clock chop” comes from!

That prudent decision proved to the 2 kayakers that it was always worth the effort to respect the element. As they had started early, they had the calmness of the sea where they covered great distances such that they were already done with the day’s mileage by 10ish in the morning. Standing on the ground of their campsite, they witnessed the numerous “white horses” in the horizon. It proved that their decision was right. While they sipped their tea standing on solid ground, they looked at those poor kayakers that had started late and had to battle the rough sea.

You roll a dice; get a ladder, you go up. Roll again, get a snake and you go down. Sometimes, the weather can be as unpredictable as the dice; you just have to be on the cautious side. You just cannot afford to be cocky with the elements.

Tourists on rental kayaks, unless accompanied by a guide were not permitted in this area of the Abel Tasman, Alex was told.

The campsites on the beaches of AT were all very well maintained. Some provided filtered water while others would require one to boil it before consumption. Some sites even had kitchens and flush toilets! And, there were always a good flat ground for the kayakers to put up their tents!

Thumbs up for the DOC! It was excellent!

One morning, Richard and Alex had “berthed” their kayaks by an exposed reef just outside the Tonga Marine Reserve which occupied a section of the Abel Tasman coast picking mussels when a really huge octopus crept up on the rock in between Alex’s kayak and the rock. It was a huge octopus, the largest Alex had ever seen. It was probably the size of a basketball with tentacles approximately a foot and a half long.

Alex had just watched “Pirates of the Caribbean” recently and the image of that monster octopus swallowing the entire ship was still fresh in his mind. So, instinctively, his immediate action was to jam his paddle against the reef to propel himself away from the rock.

Being able to read this report, you know that the giant octopus did not swallow him. (Richard fondly remembers this incident and had been sharing it with his mates.)

The kayakers subsequently reached Mosquito Bay safely at roughly 10am for a meal of mussels and lemon that they had brought in their kayaks. They had been paddling since 0630 though!

Mosquito bay is a camping site which is only accessible by kayaks or those on water taxis. Its inaccessibility made it really serene. When the tide was low, a sandy beach of maybe a hundred meters would be exposed. There was also a little creek behind the camping site.

The 2 kayakers found Mosquito Bay to be the most beautiful bay of all the sites they had camped!

At mosquito bay, there were 2 young kayakers on a double. They did not look more than 15 years old, BUT, they had been kayaking all by themselves and would be staying over at the bay. That evening, the ride was low and the 2 boys were trying to dam up the creek behind the camp site. They later went exploring the rocks at the mouth of the bay.

Richard had told Alex that it was very common for young people to go away into the wilderness by themselves.

To Alex however, he felt that very few parents in Singapore would ever allow their children to be away by themselves in the outdoors without the supervision of an adult.

That’s a cultural difference!

“Tea” was the other cultural dissimilarity for the Kiwi-Merlion union. Alex had always thought of “tea” as the drink while many kiwis would also use “tea” to mean a main meal such as dinner. To ease the confusion Alex was going through, Richard had humorously said to Alex on few occasions that they would drink tea then have tea.

“Let’s have tea and tea”. Drink then food. Hmm…that would make things easier.

Marlborough Sounds- the very initial look of it on a map had seemed that someone had dropped a piece of glass and shattered it into a thousand pieces. That makes the Sounds a haven for kayakers as there are just so many little islands and inlets to explore. It would take many months to probably years before one could see every single portion of it.

It seemed like a prelude of what the kayakers might see in the Fiordland.

The 2 kayakers had paddled some 20km+ from their put-in at Havelock to the Nydia Bay where they planned to stay the night. On the map that they carried there was a DOC hut marked on it and that would usually mean at least a sign on the actual ground itself proclaiming itself as a DOC campsite. It however took the 2 quite some effort before they found a suitable campsite just big enough for 2 tents. There was not a single sign broadcasting itself as a campsite, instead, there were pieces of tapes that were probably left behind by previous campers.

That wilderness bit of it was not a problem as it turned out to be the most rustic campsite for Alex of those 10days. The feeling of being surrounded by the greatness of nature- the hills, water, birds, thick forests with not too many people around was just special. That evening at Nydia Bay, the tide was ebbing; the 2 kayakers walked about 3 meters from their tents and then rewarded themselves with the exposed rock oysters and mussels. Pulling mussels off the rocks that they attached themselves to was not that difficult but the rock oysters were just impossible to be detached. We then threw the rock oysters together with the rocks into boiling water. When the seafood was cooked, the kayakers had it with some lemon. Hm…

Alex was telling Richard that they had the freshest oysters and mussels in the world that no amount of money would buy. The seafood was like 15min old? Alex’s taste has now become more discerning. He would be very careful about sharing this story with his fellow Singaporeans as he might be labeled hao-lian, that’s Singlish for boastful.

One of the takeaways from the training trip was that Alex would now know that long socks would be better than those ankle socks he had brought. With long socks, he would be able to tuck his trousers in to keep more of the sand flies out. Sometimes, it just amazes him that something as simple as a pair of socks could alter one’s comfort level.

Dec 2006. Alex Koh.