Day 21: Finishing Abel Tasman

Saturday 26th December

Finishing Abel Tasman with a minibus ride that left me green, then shower, food, bed

Distance: Walked, 11km, Minibus, 80km

Total Distance: 3460km

Up not too early today was finish day! Whilst Christmas was still going in the UK, and just started in the USA, I was off, up over the big hill (200m, not that big really) to the finish. Here I sat with French, German, Isreali and Chinese hikers waiting for a prearranged bus. He arrived early and we were soon off back to the start. 

The road out of the Waipu Car Park is all switchbacks. ALL switchbacks. And the driver knew each one, so he could hit them at the highest speed possible. He was a pleasant, friendly, older gentleman, but his driving made me green in minutes. Thank goodness I hadn't eaten much that morning. I tried to sleep, must have managed some, then just tried to get my body to accept the turbulence of the drive. Should I have asked him to slow down? Maybe, but I just wanted to get back.

Once returned to the start of the walk I lay down for a while, drinking all of my water and recalibrating my systems. There were showers at my next stop. I hadn't had a shower in days. Go. Get up. Become clean. Become human again.

The campsite was called Old McDonalds and had a few animals and such about the place. It was busy, but I found a quite spot under a tree for my tent. After an ice cream I went and stood in the shower for half an hour. Just stood there. Just let the water was my sweat and muck away. It was lovely. I could have stayed there forever.

I left and went to the local cafe. As well as not showering I also had no hot food nor meat whilst walking. Time for a treat. Stone baked sea food pizza with a beer. I tried to work through it slowly, make it last. But I was tired and bed called. Before 9 I was in the tent, rapped up, asleep.

Day 20: Abel Tasman 2, Estuary day

Friday 25th December

Merry Christmas from the man wading across an estuary 

Distance 20km

Total Distance 3369km

Merry Christmas!

Out of the 200 people I passed walking on Christmas Day (beats any other Christmas walk on the beach!) about 15 of us were celebrating with hats, tinsel, or earrings. We said Merry Christmas to one another, smiled and looked joyful. Everyone else was Bah Humbug, especially the ones with kids, and at best I got a "Hey". What ever, I still celebrated. One day of the year, now or never, blink and you'll miss it.

The challenge of the day was a stretch of water that had to be crossed between 1.5hours before to 2hours after low tide. Outside of these times you'd drown there. Low tide, 4:10pm, ergo start crossing at 2:40pm. 4hours from my start point, so there was no rush in the morning. I steadily packed up and started.

It's surprising to find that there are people living in the National Park. They were here before the park, own their land, and are just there for school holidays and the like. One needs a boat to get in and out, there are no shops or other amenities. Torrent Bay Village is the largest collection, a community of very expensive property in a very picturesque bay. Must be a great place to stay for holidays.

I eventually reached the lodge by the estuary. There were people there who I recognised from the day before and that morning, all of us going in the same direction, now all waiting together. It was 1:30pm, time for Christmas Dinner of marmite sandwiches and Jelly Babies whilst the waters receded. Probably around 30 people were there waiting, and many on the other side too. 

A few from the other side tried the estuary early, getting up to their chests in water as they crossed. I waited until sensible people safely crossed. At 2:40pm the exodus started, boots off, people waded across. After a few groups had started I moved out with a large mob or hikers, my walking poles in hand, bare feet, and got up to my knees in the warm water. There were a lot of shells littering the places- a carpet at times, which I had to go round- as well as the crabs living in the sand. It wasn't kind to my feet, and the tiny blister on my foot was opened up by the sand rubbing, but was easy and novel. Once across I dried my feet, donned my boots, had a quick look at the fish in the water, then went uphill.

The last major stop before my camp was Totanui (SP), which one can drive to. It has spaces for camper vans and tents, as well as the visitor centre. I stopped for water and dinner, then carried on.

Mutton Cove has a lot of space for camping, as well as many cheeky Wekas. The Weka is as flightless bird the size of a large chicken. They love campsites, were people have food and other things to steal. No one harms them so they are nearly tame. You can't touch them (they are good runners- you aren't getting back what they steal), but they will run about amongst the tourists, occasionally bumping into people when they are fighting amongst themselves. Tent up, gear in, I fell asleep to the sound of the waves and a large group of French hikers chatting.

Day 19: Abel Tasman, my first, longest, hottest day

Thursday 24th December 

A gorgeous, but knackering day starting through the Abel Tasman National Park Coastal Track

Distance walked 31km

Total Distance 3349km

"You are going to do this. One more hill. That's all it is. Nothing. You used to be able to do this in your sleep. What's wrong with you? You've become soft. You used to be so good at this. Too much time on your fat arse. Get up. Get up and go. Just do it. You'll be at your camp then, you can rest there. Go to sleep there. But now you're going to get over this last hill."

Some days you just need an old school team talk to get you going. Or, in this case, to finish. It was a long day, 31.5km over small, but numerous, hills, through stunning landscapes and seascapes. Mostly I walked in the forest, but the trail followed the coast, such that it was interspersed by the bluest waters under the clearest sky.

The day started with a lift from a German woman who was going to get the taxi to the furthest point along the walk one can, about 2/3 of the way along. She, like many people, was going to start there and walk back to her car.

As I began a young guy was doing roughly the same pace as me so we got to talking. He was from Sheffield! Which, given where we are, means we practically grew up as neighbours. As a builder he couldn't find enough work in the UK, but there was plenty available in New Zealand. A few years ago Christchurch suffered a horrendous earthquake, destroying many homes and city centre. Much of the population left. Since then the rebuild has been steady for various reasons- finance and building earthquake safe buildings being the two biggest. For two years he has been working there with many others. Only a young lad he's far from home but enjoying it. Soon he'll be eligible for residency.

We discussed home, living in NZ, the differences, both good and bad. What we missed from home, Christmas, Abel Tasman, and many other topics. Eventually we reached his campsite and seperated. It wasn't even lunchtime, so he was due for an afternoon of sunbathing and swimming. How boring, I had 7 hours of hiking ahead of me.

One can cut 30 minutes out of the hike by taking a low tide track along the beaches and through an estuary. Otherwise it's the high tide track- but this comes with numerous swing bridges and Cleopatra's Pool!

Cleopatra's Pool is part of a river including small waterfalls, lagoons, and many large boulders. I spotted Cleopatra's Eel- a 6ft long, 6 inch thick eel, calmly swimming under the boulders, which resulted in all the other tourists gathering round to snap pictures.

Having eaten lunch I carried on, up and over more hills, past more beaches, blue sky, blue sea, through the lush forest.

I had one last hill to do when I reached Bark's Bay. The his is a proper place to stop- proper campsite, lodge, filtered water fit for drinking. Hence I stopped for half a dinner, drank water, filled my bottles, then set out again before I fell asleep.

I was getting more into the walk at this point, but the last hill was still tough. Eventually I hit my own bit of paradise though- Tonga Quarry. There's a small island there confusingly called Tonga- obviously no The Tonga, just A Tonga. There was still the foundations of the works there, but also the beach and my little oozed sanded spot to sleep. I chatted with an English couple who had done my stretch for the next day, getting the low down on how nice and relatively flat it was. The tent went up, gear went in, bed made, and I passed out. 

Nice day, but should have been two!

Day 18: More Kayaking, and a lift to an amazing hostel

Wednesday 23rd December 

Kayaking near Abel Tasman, then chilling in a forest-hostel with more Germans

Distance: Kayak, 5km, Minibus, 32km

Total Distance  3318km

Today began bright and early with a few hours of kayaking east of the Abel Tasman national park. I ended up in a sea kayak with 1/3 of a wild Swedish trio who were hilarious, to the point that they were nearly better than the kayaking.

The down side to the kayaking was that it was too short. And in the wrong direction. Out west of where we started is the amazingly beautiful Abel Tasman, which includes a marine reserve brimming with life. 

I've been told before, yet had forgotten, not to buy the prepaid vouchers from the Kiwi Experience website. The vouchers ensure you are paid up, occasionally at a discount, to do certain activities. The ones available via the website are not bad, but they are the minimum. There is actually better available when one is on the bus, as well as what is on the vouchers.

Thus, if I did it again, I would have signed up to do a full day in Abel Tasman. Or, had I been with other people, I would have done what the smart people were doing and getting kayaks for a few days, putting gear on them, then going glamping on the various beaches. You can carry far more on a kayak than on your back! Some people had brought everything with them, including their barbecue. But, being solo, I'm not so keen to take to the seas. I don't have gills. Bad things happen at sea, even when just off shore.

After the kayaking I had a different hostel to get to. Being lazy and the kayak crew taking their bus in the same direction, I asked for a lift down the road. To my surprise they took we down the road, then up the long drive to my hostel. Lovely :)

Most of the rest of the day was spent sprawling about the hostel.

I love Budget Hostels here- especially the small ones, they always have so much character.

This one was high in the hills, surrounded by forest, with no signal (but no where here has signal), and with hammocks! I love hammocks.

I alternated half hours of reading and napping for a while, until I was joined by a dasselling German. She smiled at me and I smiled back. I attempted to turn in the hammock to talk to her, but, failing to make it nonchalant I put my head back... and blacked out. Have you ever fallen into such a deep sleep that you lose your balance? I did. An hour later waking up felt like being hauled out of a deep well. Forgetting nonchalant I dizzily made my way back inside. 

After a shower, dinner, and a coffee I felt slightly more human. I was sat in the kitchen about to write a blog entry when a German girl asked me if I wanted to join a small group of random Germans enjoying a pre-Christmas celebration. She'd received a dried mulled wine mix plus spice mix from her grandmother and made some carrot cake. Thus Christmas Eve Eve was spent with 5 Germans, switching between a language I vaguely recognise now and my native tongue, discussing everything from various international Christmas traditions, to German markets in Munich, Edinburgh and Birmingham, to what activities we were all planning for the next few days.