Palm Trees and Water Taxis…

School Holidays-Part Two    
For our second day of hiking the Abel Tasman National Park, we chose a slightly shorter itinerary with the boat leaving at 9:30am and returning at 4.  We saw more golden beaches and seal pups sunning themselves on the rocks.  One of the many benefits of the park is the terrain is truly accessible for everyone.  There are very few steep changes in elevation and you are in charge of the length of your stay. 

   
That night, when I rang my nephew for his birthday, I spoke to my oldest brother who asked where I was.  When I told him the Abel Tasman (he thought I was heading straight to Queenstown), he gave me a very detailed history lesson on all of my family connections to the Abel Tasman.  There is a large grove of trees in Totaranui which was planted by my ancestors.  My Grandmother was born in Awaroa in 1900.  The Pitt Head track was named after my family…I knew none of this.  Part of this is not surprising due to the fact that history is not, and has never been my strong suit.  Unless you count the times Jeff has really made me angry and then I turn in to a historian that could have earned a PhD…

I do believe that had I not been gone for so long, I would know these stories.  Or at least some of them.  After I got off the phone with my brother, I repeated all that he had told me to my kids.  It went something like this.

“Hey!  Remember that Pitt Head track that we hiked yesterday??”

“No.”

“It is named after my family!”

“Cool Mum.”

Clearly they aren’t history buffs either…

    
After two full on days, we decided to extend our stay in Kaiteriteri one more day and just relax.  With views from our Bach like this, who could blame us?

  
Our history certainly has a hand in shaping us but it does not define us.  Children are masters at staying in the moment and not worrying about tomorrow.  Unless you take their iPod away and tell them they can’t have it back until tomorrow.  Then the future becomes very important indeed…