Monday
The next day we left for Abel Tasman. New Zealand has 9 Great Walks (world-renowned tramps that are several days long, through beautiful scenery), and Abel Tasman is one of them.
The track is 54km long and takes 3-5 days to complete. We decided it would be a great backpacking trip for our term break. So the 5 of us that bought a car (Will, Gabe, Kristina, Andi and I) squished ourselves and our backpacks into the red Honda Integra and set off in the early morning.
Credit to Gabe Park for the photo
After 7 hours, we got to our destination. We paid our camping fees at the information centre ($15/person/night), along with a ticket for a watertaxi. (Since the whole thing is a one-way track, you need to take a watertaxi back to your car at the starting point. We decided that one person would take the watertaxi and then come pick the rest of us up, in order to save $45 each.)
The before picture
It was around 3pm when we started hiking. We went 12km and ended up getting to our first campsite just after dark. We set up our tents, cooked ourselves some pasta and then sat around the fire talking until it was time for bed. It was the first time I’d ever fallen asleep to the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
Tuesday
Tuesday was rainy. That’s about all you need to know about Tuesday. It wasn’t particularly fun; it turns out my raincoat wasn’t quite as waterproof as I thought it was, after hours of the rain working down the waterproof covering. We walked for 15km before finally getting to our campsite, where we were glad to see a cooking shelter waiting for us.
For the most part the rain had stopped by the time we had set up our tents. I don’t know what possessed me at that particular moment, but I felt the need to go for a run at that point. We were situated right next to a beautiful beach, and so I went for a short jog alongside the waves.
That night we made macaroni and cheese. (Real macaroni and cheese – with melted cheese, onions, garlic, peas, and sausage.) I ate ‘til I was stuffed, and then I remember commenting that I’m pretty sure I eat better on tramps than I do at home.
We sat around talking again that night, inside the cooking shelter, while drinking tea and sharing chocolate. Seeing as we’ve made friends with quite a few Germans and Austrians, Will and I are determined to learn a bit of German while we’re here. (a true Kiwi experience, I know) So we learned a few words from Andi and Kristina after supper, as well as a few sentences. I can now officially speak a little bit of German. (Ich war ein kleiner grüner Frosch)
Later that night we had a visitor; a possum came by to see if we would share any food. We didn’t of course, but he came by several times just in case. Gabe caught of a photo of him from behind as he was running away:
We left our backpacks in the shelter that night, so they wouldn’t get more soaked than they already were. We made sure to store all our food safely deep inside our backpacks where the possum wouldn’t be able to get at it.
Wednesday
We woke up to a mess in the cooking shelter. It turns out Kristina had forgotten some of her food in the “brain” of her backpack (the top part that can flip open). So the possum had opened the zipper, eaten all the granola bars and apples that had been there, and left wrappers and turds everywhere. It was quite a mess.
And now I understand why no one likes possums very much. 😉
(In fact, the government of New Zealand has this to say about it: )
Click on photo to enlarge
That day we had two tidal crossings along our route. The Abel Tasman Coastal Track follows the shoreline quite closely for it’s full 54km, so there are a few occasions when the trail crosses an estuary. A tidal crossing is where you have to wait for low tide to be able to continue across the estuary. Even at low tide the water can come pretty high, so crossing at high tide would be impossible. But we’d learnt the tidal times at the info centre and we’d planned for it. Like any other tramp so far, we knew we weren’t getting out of this with dry ankles.
The water came up to the middle of my thighs at this crossing.
(Credit to Andreas Blöschl for the photo)
Credit to Andreas Blöschl for the photograph 🙂
That night we played cards (and drank tea and ate chocolate as usual of course) underneath the roof of another shelter, as it rained outside. We had another visitor that night: a Weka bird came by several times to check for any food. We weren’t too worried, because all the food was stowed away, until at one point when the bird stole Gabe’s socks that he had left out to dry. Gabe chased him down and got his socks back, but after that we had to keep an eye out for the rest of our stuff.
Thursday
At this point, we were another 17km from the end of the track. Originally we had thought that we’d planned to finish the whole thing, but upon reaching our campsite on Wednesday, and seeing the name of the campsite, we realized that the lady who had booked our watertaxi had booked it for this campsite. So we had inadvertently arranged to be picked up at the second last stop. This turned out to be a good thing, as we were all really glad to not have an extra 17km to do that day; it was our 5th day in a row of tramping and we were getting pretty tired.
But I felt rather disappointed when I found out I wouldn’t be actually hiking the whole thing, and Andi felt the same. So we worked out a plan: the next day, Will would take the watertaxi back to get our car while Gabe and Kristina waited. Meanwhile Andi and I, leaving most of our gear behind with those two, would head out to finish the rest of the track. Will would pick up Gabe and Kristina there, and then continue on to pick up Andi and I at the finish line.
Credit to Will Rynearson for the photo
We all enjoyed our own little adventures that day. The weather had turned nice, the first sunny day since we got there, and it was a blessing. For me, it was a great way to end the trip. Since we didn’t have our heavy packs and the trail was well groomed, Andi and I decided to do a little bit of running. (Well, he had a backpack – we fit both of our day stuff into one pack. It still wasn’t as heavy, but water, cameras, and food still weigh a lot. Props to him for being able to run with a backpack on, and letting me go without.) We ended up running every time the trail went downhill, and walking all the uphill bits. I would say we ran at least a third of our journey that day, and it ended up being about 20km total. (I said it was 17 earlier, but we got lost somewhere along the way and took a 3km loop track by accident, before getting back on track.)
That’s probably the most fun I’ve had on a trail so far. It was just the right amount of work for my fitness level so it was a good workout, and trail running is surprisingly fun. The sights were gorgeous too. We passed golden beaches and walked beside the waves as they crashed onto the sand, saw some seals and endangered birds, and got to see the rainforest in the beautiful sunlight. It was a great day.
Doing a little photography while we waited for the others
All the little holes in the sand where the crabs hide
Our car coming to pick us up.
Credit to Andreas Blöschl for the photo again.