An Abel that survived - and other things of biblical proportion

I don't intend to sound blasphemic, but back in the days of the Old Testament, Abel wasn't a very lucky chap. He was a shepherd, kind and full of virtue, whilst his brother Cain was NOT the inventor of really delicious oven-baked chips, BUT the first well-known murderer in history. Hm, something went wrong there.
Thankfully, with another Abel (yes, I am getting to the point) a lot of things went terribly right. With Abel Tasman, to be precise. This chap from the Netherlands sailed a good deal around the world and discovered an outstandingly beautiful part of the north coast of the South Island of New Zealand: golden beaches, rainforest, rocks and rivers - gorgeous!! In his honour this perfect paradise was called "Abel Tasman National Park", and I was lucky enough to spend some time hiking there. That was one of the best days of my trip so far. I took a ridiculous amount of photos, stumbled down from the trees to every bloody bay and beach, and got a glorious tan. Fantabulous!! One of my bus companions, Joel, had an equally great time hiking with me. The girls we had rented a car with to go to the park didn't have such a good time. Two of them didn't hike at all but took a water taxi to the first beach (NZD 32) only to realise they can't be bothered to walk at all. Hence they took the next water taxi back (NZD 32)... The third girl "hiked" the trail in 2 hrs (recommended is 3.5 to 4, we did it leisurely in 4.5 hrs), she actually jogged (!) most of the way. Excuse me, but I think that their approach to exploring NZ's beauty isn't exactly recommendable. Maybe someone should explain to them that "hiking" in general should not be attempted in sparkly flip-flops, wearing heavy jewellery and carrying a "city bag" the size of my backpack on your arm. Plein weird!
Anyway, one of the best days ended in one of the greatest embarrassments when Joel, I and Heidy (another friend) where declined our booze shopping in the supermarket! I had got a bottle of red but Heidy offered to pay it. The cashier asked her for an ID because she "looks younger than 25" (she's 30, looks gorgeous but not like 24). She didn't have one, hence I said "Okay, I pay it then." They refused! "You can't swap bottles at the cashier" - we aren't swappping, we're friends, trying to buy booze! When I said that I had my passport with me, another (clearly stunning looking, as they are) cashier lady was so decent to say "Well, YOU don't need to show one (followed by a slight snort, I swear!)." If you like you can finish the sentence by saying: "you look old/wrinkly enough". What a cow! In the end we had to walk off without our bottle, only to witness the same bitches (excuse my French) selling 2 sixpacks of beer to two really haggard-looking, already boozed-up guys in the queue behind us. I knew there MUST be something non-perfect in this country ... xxx