The Abel Tasman

The weather in Nelson appeared to be improving, so we got all our gear and reservations set up to hike (New Zealanders say 'tramp'; as in "You're going tramping! Choice!") the Abel Tasman Track. Four days, 55 kilometres, and some low-tide only crossings. Here we are all fresh and fancy free at the beginning of the trail.Day one was good, well, as good as it can be as our bodies adjust to packing a huge, heavy backpack, and your mind adjusts to the fact that we'll be walking with all this stuff for a long time. Cleopatra's Pools: The trail is quite easy and follows the coast line just out of reach of most of the places where water meets land, with the exception of a few major beaches littered with rental kayaks and city folks just out for a boat ride to see the sights. Beth and I remained 'tough and rugged' as we passed ladies wearing skirts and flip-flops, or the fit folks running what appears to be their daily route. How do these impostors get on the trail? Ah, yes, it must be the multitude of tourist boats dropping off the 'softies' at a beach and letting them swat at sandflies the whole 'hike' down the trail back to their car. The campsite we reserved was not bad; some flat spots for tents, a water tap with a sign advising us to boil the water before using it, and a 'long drop' (a.k.a. outhouse). My attempt to use kerosene in my MSR stove wasn't quite as successful or graceful as I had hoped. I am used to using white gas, and couldn't find any the night before we left for the hike, so kerosene it was... A few times, I had the burner working okay, but most of the time the flames were protruding the base of the pot and the smell of kerosene burning was less than enticing. The beach next to our campsite was beautiful at low tide: The beach was far enough away from our campsite that we weren't bothered by the vacationers and their jet skis. Oh wait, yes, the helicopter landing on the beach did surprise us somewhat... The water looks warm, but it isn't unless you are in a shallllllow pool... At 8:00PM, we retired to the protection of our new tent (Beth bought one in Nelson from a Canadian employee at the Kathmandu store). Our early bed time had more to do with the fact that we couldn't think of anything else to do but relax and fall asleep... After a few hours into the darkness, we heard a weird sound outside the tent. There are signs all over NZ warning of the excessive possum population, and at 11:30 PM, I wasn't in the mood to fend off a pesky possum, so I loudly told it to "F-off" in hopes that it would be scared enough to leave us and our food alone. Astonishingly enough, it worked! But that didn't stop Beth from thinking about how awful it would be to need to pee, and have to get out of the tent with a headlamp and see two little red eyes looking back at her. Nope, peeing was out of the question that night. After the worst sleep almost imaginable, we packed up and headed out under a cloudy, rain-threatening sky. -- This story may sound a bit bleak, but stick around, it gets better. -- The hiking was better than the first day because the pack felt lighter even though it really isn't and there were more interesting things to pass by other than purse-toting tourists. The sun appeared just in time to have lunch at a sweet, but busy beach where I spotted a kiwi with a Canadian-made Necky kayak. Beth and I enjoyed the familiar tastes of tuna fish sandwiches... Mmmm..... The next beach around the corner was just as nice, but about 15 times longer. Beth and I wanted so badly to stay for a while and chill-ax, but we decided that if we sat down for any length of time, we wouldn't be able to get our butts off the beach to hike the remaining 2 hours to our next campsite. So, without feeling the sweet golden sand between our toes, we kept on truckin' and reached a creek too deep for Beth to cross in her hiking shoes. She wimpered for a bit complaining about having to take her shoes off to make the pass, but I came through and piggy-backed her all the way across... until we arrived at the next creek twenty metres later which was too deep for even my boots, so we both had to undo our shoes and wade across. Later on, we finally arrived at our campsite and couldn't believe our luck! The beach was stunning, empty of tourists, and was located 5 metres from our campsite!! After setting up camp, we took a well-deserved and well-required dunk in the ocean. The water again looks warm, but think otherwise. Since Beth actually went in too, it couldn't have been that cold, right Beth?? We swam around for a while using the snorkel and goggles Craig lent us. Beach wildlife: After a two-hour yoga session on the beach, I felt so grateful to be here in this amazing spot. Possum update for camping night #2: AGHHHHHH! The little buggers (yes, plural) got to our ziplock garbage bag and started to chew... Beth and I heard the noise, bolted upright, turned on our headlamps, and wished we knew more about possums. Are they vicious? Will they scatter upon threatening insults? Well, making noise by shaking the tent and yelling obscenities didn't work much, so Beth and I got up enough courage to vacate the tent with Beth on the "possum lookout" covering me while I grabbed the bag and hung it from a nearby tree branch. Yikes! We got back inside our warm sleeping bags and layed still, listening for the inevitable return of our fuzzy, normally roadkill friends.... A few minutes went by before we heard the familiar sound of plastic crunching. I thought, "Well, even if I have to clean up a big mess in the morning, at least they aren't chewing up our garbage right outside the tent. I fell back asleep rather quickly. Here's the destruction below. The little guys are pretty polite, actually. They took what they wanted (the banana peels and apple cores) and left the rest in tact. Maybe possums aren't that bad... On tramping day three, the crickets were still out in full force making the loudest darn crickety sounds I ever did hear. At times, it was almost deafening. I think the culprit is in the photo below. To help push us along, Beth found us both walking sticks. I named mine Cecilia the Stick. This day's trek was longer than the previous two, and we were getting tired... Once we finally reached the third campsite, we set up camp quickly and sat on the beach wrapped up for a while. I went to bed early and listened to familiar favourite music on my ipod (yeah, I know what you're thinking: "You brought an ipod on your hike??" Yes I did. I'm not proud of it, but it sure was nice to have that night.) After the darkness surrounded our tent, Beth heard the possums out and about the campsites... They chewed on Beth's novel for a bit before deciding that our tent neighbor's garbage was more tasty. On our fourth and last day of hiking, we stopped at Separation Point to see the seals. The rocky coastline is just like some places in Nova Scotia. Beauty! In the picture below, there are two seals on the wet rock in the lower left corner. If you click on the photo, you can zoom in on the flickr website where my photos are stored. After another full day of hiking, we ended up at our eventual destination, Wainui Bay, where we had to wait for the bus to pick us up and take us back to our car at the opposite end of the hike. The bus was over an hour and a half late, so we sat on the beach and listened to music waiting for the sun to come back out. The bus ride was another story, but I will leave it as being described as somewhat sketchy.