Abel Tasman – Day 2

April 3rd, 2010

Day 75.  We unzipped the door to our tent to watch the sunrise then took our obligatory morning dip (evening though it was a little freezing).

Sunrise at Mosquito Bay

We warmed up with French Toast courtesy of Mikey and a cup of refreshing Kawa Kawa tea whose leaves were pulled from a nearby bush.

Kawa Kawa

After breaking camp, we explored the coastline a little more then stopped for lunch in Frenchman’s Bay.  Mikey pointed out two almost identical looking bushes of the varieties Kanuka and Manuka.  Manuka, also known as the New Zealand Tea Tree, has tougher leaves and has a soothing and healing effect.  Kanuka has soft leaves and has a laxative effect.  We chose to make tea out of the Manuka.

In the afternoon the wind picked up and were able to raft our boats together and use a tarpaulin tied to our oars as a spinnaker sail.  With the wind behind us we shot through the water.  The ride was somewhat precarious as we had to hold the raft together and keep the sail in place (and we got quite damp) but we did get to have a break from rowing.  In next to no time we were back at the water taxi pickup spot.

In the evening we picked up some emergency noodles and drove inland to Murchison, the birthplace of Annie’s cousin-in-law, Raewyn, and slept like logs in a comfy bed.

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