Simply Life.: The beautiful, Abel Tasman...

I just realized I forgot to tell you guys about Abel Tasman! Middle of last week, our group headed out to Abel Tasman National Park. It was the most amazing park I have ever been to! The scenery was absolutely stunning. Words cannot describe the beauty of it! We were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunny day. The ocean was calm, which was perfect! Our group kayaked into Abel Tasman (which took us approximately 3 hours). The kayak trip was just gorgeous on the beautiful blue/green ocean water. Islands all around us, it was magnificent. After making it to Abel Tasman, we all set up camp. We stayed there for two nights. It was absolutely perfect. My favorite place we stayed by far! The second day we hiked to Cleopatra Pools, which was beautiful! We all swam in the ocean, jumped off of a dock, and saw many jellyfish and starfish! I was lucky enough to see a stingray swim past in the ocean. Just a beautiful place to be it was! We also heard a story from a Maori man about the history of Abel Tasman. It was very interesting. He had told us that the Maori people were there first, but a man named Abel Tasman came close to being there on the ship and it was named after him. Very odd, but interesting. We also played the “Whip Cream Game” which some people at the campground. It was a very interesting game, never had heard of it before. A guy and girl pair up as partners, and the guy basically forms a bridge for the girl (by laying in push-up position) and the girl cannot touch the ground, crawls onto the guys back and places a whip cream can as far out as she can, crawls back to the man’s feet, then helps the man up. The man is not allowed to touch the ground besides where his hands are (so his hands can’t wipe across the ground at all!). It was a lot of fun when our group got involved, Kaleigh and Ian ended up being the champs! It was fun! When it was time to leave, our group packed up and hiked out. It was about a 3-hour hike out, but the views from the hike were amazing. I am so lucky to be able to be here! It is just amazing. Abel Tasman is a place I most DEFINITELY want to come back to!!!