Day 2 Abel Tasman

We both slept soundly last night until about 530AM (going to sleep by 9PM might have had something to do with it!) and got up and had some yogurt, muesli and coffee, we were on the road by 730 for our supposed 5:45 drive Marahau.

It is comforting to know that there is a road construction season in New Zealand as well. Traffic and two lane, twisty roads slow things down as well. Heather used the spaceship app to find a random waterfall hike, located by a spray painted blue arrow on a tree on the side of the road. It had a warning with cross bones and skull, with a warning for poison. We figured we wouldn't eat the poison pellets and proceeded on our way.A quick 15 minute hike up and we weren't disappointed. We finally arrived in Marahau around 230 in time for our afternoon horseback ride down the beach. Which may have been one of our strangest guides to date....

We still don't know exactly how to describe this strange, weathered man. Upon arrival to his pasture, entrance marked by a Canadian flag (he was not Canadian, just liked the flag) we were greeted by an obviously unhappy man rolling a cigarette. He told us that we were early and not much else. We retreated to our van to change into more appropriate horseback riding gear. Another customer finally approached so we figured we could go back over.

We don't know the name of this soft spoken, strange little man as he never actually introduced himself, but he was slightly happier to see us after his cigarette, and that it was now approaching the time that the tour was set to begin. A quick observation of our surroundings revealed a delapitated shack that housed the riding equipment, a run down trailer (which we assume he lived in) and an outhouse. Heather inquired about using the restroom before our 2 hour ride. He looked at her as if it were quite the inconvenience before he offered up his "long drop" (outhouse) for her to use. We got our helmets and assigned our horses. It was just us two, and a lady from Finland. Chad with little riding experience was last to mount his horse. The strange little man offered some advice, to paraphrase, "Don't hold onto the saddle horn, pull on the reigns the direction you want to go, and kick your heels to go, you'll figure out the rest"

The strange little man got his horse out, and climbed onto him, bareback. We were on our way. This is about when the perplexing rambling began. Comments from the strange little man about "if this were free, it wouldn't be worth doing" and "I don't get paid to talk to you, I just get paid to keep you safe" started things off. As he became more comfortable with us his conversation got more animated.

We both understand guides getting comfortable with clients, but it is usually after a couple of days. This guy, became comfortable enough within half an hour to completely remove what little filter he had. He let the true cowboy come out, swearing like a cowboy (or sailor?), and letting us know how he felt about lots of random things. The insight that he delivered was quite eccentric, and very abnormal for the typical tour guide. He had plenty of conspiracies that he felt the need to let us know about, rather than inform us of typical (actual)history and natural things that we were experiencing.

Overall he kept us safe, which was his only job.....He let Heather and the Finn trot/gallop on the beach. He took our camera and took some good pictures, along with some very random pictures. On our way back to his "pasture" we had to ride our horses on the streets, by this point he must have been tired of riding bareback for 2 hours so he was walking alongside his horse, randomly stopping and looking into vehicles parked along the road. We got back to his pasture and proceeded to desaddle, rinse, and put away his horses for him.

This being our second day in New Zealand we felt obligated to tip, so we did (even though it is not expected at all, which we figured out later). He was as grateful, in a strange way. Neither of us still know exactly what to think of him. Probably the worst guide ever, but I (Chad) would recommend going on a tour with him, just for the strange experience of riding a horse with this Kiwi Cowboy.

Then we drove the 2 minute back to our Holiday Park for the night.

"The Barn Backpacking Holiday Park" is a bit more rambunctious than the park in Christchurch. The holiday parks have so far been about like a KOA. We made spaghetti and meat sauce which was delicious, and got our lunches and everything ready for our boating/kayaking/hiking tomorrow.Read more