(SUN/Sue Ann Levy)

ABEL TASMAN PARK, New Zealand -- Paul Kelly is paddling our bright yellow kayak so furiously, I'm showered by sprays of salty sea water.

But the show begins much before we coast into Tonga Island.

Chocolate brown seals with oily coats somersault in and out of the emerald coloured waters, emitting a high-pitched squeal and a flap of their tails as they glide beside our kayak.

High on the rocks beyond, a posse of smelly seals bask in the early summer sun, paying no mind to eight kayakers shouting and pointing their paddles.

"Smashing, positively smashing!" exclaims Kelly, whose British reserve seems to melt away for the moment.

We're so mesmerized that Steve Perry, our 34-year-old Kiwi guide, must warn us to be prepared to out-paddle the current and high winds; which kick up as soon as we head around the unprotected side of the island.

But we don't care. We're floating on air after spending two cloudless days maneuvering our way up the coast of this national park on the northern tip of New Zealand's south island -- as close to paradise as most of us will ever come.

Our group -- seven kayakers plus Perry -- has set out the day before from Kaiteriteri, a beach about 16 km away and six hours of paddling due south. What we lack in kayaking muscle we make up for in sheer bravado.

If anything, we're a worldly bunch. Kelly, a trainer for a hi-tech company in Cambridge, England, is using the tour as a reunion with sisters, Ruth and Fiona. Simon Shaw has traveled from Lincoln, England while Yuji Matsubara has traveled from Japan for a five-day getaway.

Abel Tasman Experiences manager Darryl Wilson says the guided, multi-day kayaking tours began in 1995, but 80 percent of their clients still prefer to walk.

We have chosen the high-end route. On this particular tour, we'll spend two days kayaking on the Tasman Sea, and the third day hiking out of the park on a coastal track that winds through a mountainous rain forest.

Another 17 members of our tour group will trek the entire route (some 35 km) on the track, which overlooks beach after golden beach from 250 metres up. (We'll meet up at night, as we do each night, at two rustic Cape Cod lodges with indoor plumbing and hearty Kiwi cuisine, but no telephone service to the outside world.)

Guide John Glasgow, a perennial flower child who leads the walkers in bare feet, describes the coastal track as "practically a footpath" on which you can walk "in platforms with shopping bags."

We discover very quickly that kayaking is the finest way to see the park's beaches, intimate coves and temperate rain forests that literally drop into the emerald coloured sea.

"Walking you get to see the vegetation," says Shaw. "But kayaking you get to see all the coves and estuaries."

Kayaking on the Tasman Sea is "pretty gentle" too, Glasgow believes, because much of the weather is westerly -- meaning virtually no wind and calm seas. "It's incredibly safe and easy to land on the beaches."

Still with kayaking comes added risk and a fear of drowning, concedes Wilson.

Before we set out, Chris Cartwright, an instructor for the kayak guides, shows us how to paddle most efficiently, to properly put on our "skirts", and how to use the Eskimo roll to right ourselves should we capsize (something that luckily never happens).

Kelly has the harder part in the stern, navigating our ocean-going kayak around volcanic, grey rock by alternating between two foot pedals. I prefer the sea spray from the bow.

On the first day we ease into Watering Cove and devour our bagged lunches as shags, gannets, terns and cheeky Oystercatchers try to grab our crumbs.

That night over tea and baked goodies at Torrent Bay Lodge, Glasgow eagerly extols the virtues of the park. His eyes shine as he talks lovingly of every flower, the temperate climate and the Nikau palms we've seen -- the southernmost palm in the world.

"This is a very special corner of New Zealand ... The jewel in the crown of the south island," he says. "People say its like Fiji."

Glasgow disapproves of the "fast boats" that are making their way into the park: "These waters are like paradise, but so many tourists are in a hurry."

The sky is still a wedgwood blue at 10 p.m. -- it's nearing the first day of summer (Dec. 21) in New Zealand -- and the tide is out, leaving a power boat humped in the sand.

The tide is still out by morning and we're forced to schlep our heavy kayaks and equipment endlessly along the sand.

The tide remains out when we lunch at Mosquito Bay -- one of the most beautiful views of our three-day trip -- forcing us to walk through the caves and estuaries rather than kayak.

After ditching our kayaks at Onetahuti and walking two hours through the rain forest into Homestead Lodge -- lugging our kayak paddles and other paraphernalia -- Ruth and Fiona admit needing to be somewhat fit for this high-end tour.

"It was a bit tougher than I thought ... I'm not sure people less fit could have done it," says Fiona.

Nevertheless, what made the tour for Ruth was the seal show. "I got excited by the seals ... I've never seen seals before."

Shaw was raving about the scenery "You think one bay is amazing and then you come to another ... it was far better than I expected."

Even John Thornton, who came from Calgary with daughter Tamara, 11 and son Kauri, 13, and walked the entire route, couldn't say enough about what he saw.

"It certainly beat my expectations for raw beauty ... the beaches, forests and tidal lowlands were quite remarkable."

If you go:

Between now and March 6 you can fly from Toronto to Auckland (with a stop in LA) on Air Canada/Air New Zealand, for $2,075 return. Best to book your trip through an agency that specializes in New Zealand like Toronto's Anza Travel.

Abel Tasman Experiences offers three-day and five-day guided walking/kayaking tours. The cost in the high season (October to April) for the three-day tour is NZ $800 (about $600 Cdn. depending on the exchange). For more information, check out the Abel Tasman Experiences web site at www.abeltasman.co.nz or contact them at info@abeltasman.co.nz.