"Perdone, donde esta el banco, por favor?" (Excuse me, where is the bank, please?)
"Derecho, a dos quadras, detras de la farmacia." (Straight ahead, two blocks away, next door to the chemist).
We're in the South Island, not South America, but these are the directions we hear as we drive towards the Abel Tasman National Park. Before we left Wellington, we thought it would be a good idea to brush up on our Spanish, and so borrowed an audiobook from the library. Its the only CD we'll have for the next three and a half weeks - so hopefully something will sink in before we leave New Zealand.
Not that we’re in any rush. Despite summer being officially over, the sunny weather has stayed with us - and we’re trying to make the most of it. After two days tramping (or walking as most non-Kiwis call it) around the Malborough Sound, we moved on to the Tasman coast to do some kayaking..
"Remember, you're scooping chocolate ice cream with John Travolta!" That was the highly technical paddling advice from Steve the instructor, as he helped set us out onto the water. I'm still not entirely sure what he meant. But it worked - as we made our way up around the beautiful coastline of the park, we could hear birds sing and watch them swoop for fish - without falling in to join them.
But it was the seals that stole the show. As we sat there in our kayak - just the two of us - a group of four swam around us for well over half an hour. They started off feigning disinterest - but soon they were playing, jumping up in the air and belly-flopping down to make sure we'd get wet. They were close enough to touch - but given their poor reputation for oral hygiene, it was probably safer not to - we'll make do with the photos instead.
"Derecho, a dos quadras, detras de la farmacia." (Straight ahead, two blocks away, next door to the chemist).
We're in the South Island, not South America, but these are the directions we hear as we drive towards the Abel Tasman National Park. Before we left Wellington, we thought it would be a good idea to brush up on our Spanish, and so borrowed an audiobook from the library. Its the only CD we'll have for the next three and a half weeks - so hopefully something will sink in before we leave New Zealand.
Not that we’re in any rush. Despite summer being officially over, the sunny weather has stayed with us - and we’re trying to make the most of it. After two days tramping (or walking as most non-Kiwis call it) around the Malborough Sound, we moved on to the Tasman coast to do some kayaking..
"Remember, you're scooping chocolate ice cream with John Travolta!" That was the highly technical paddling advice from Steve the instructor, as he helped set us out onto the water. I'm still not entirely sure what he meant. But it worked - as we made our way up around the beautiful coastline of the park, we could hear birds sing and watch them swoop for fish - without falling in to join them.
But it was the seals that stole the show. As we sat there in our kayak - just the two of us - a group of four swam around us for well over half an hour. They started off feigning disinterest - but soon they were playing, jumping up in the air and belly-flopping down to make sure we'd get wet. They were close enough to touch - but given their poor reputation for oral hygiene, it was probably safer not to - we'll make do with the photos instead.
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