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Other entries in Abel Tasman National Park

Backpacking in Abel Tasman

Well, we got back yesterday from two nights and two and a half days backpacking in Abel Tasman National park.  What a beautiful place.  We caught a bus to Marahau where we began the tramp, called the Coastal Track because it follows the ocean (along a cliff most of the way).  The water is turquoise blue and the beaches are white sand and yellow cornmeal.  The path is covered by huge ferns part of the time, and then changes all together to dry desert like vegetation other times, it is amazing how fast the changes happen.  We stopped and had lunch each day (the staple travel meal of bread, cheese and tomatoes (which we have spiced up by adding mustard, olive oil, and salt) on a beach along the track.  It seemed very much like paradise sitting there eating out sandwiches in teh sun (exept for the sand flies, which were pretty reckless and I still have huge bite welts on my ankles).  We made it to Te Pukatia (I think) campground the first night around 4, a beautiful campsite on the beach, just in time to set up our tent before it started pouring rain and blowing wind.  There was nothing to do but climb into our tent and wait out the storm before we started cooking dinner.  We were both pretty tired from the walk anyway, and ended up falling asleep for 3 hours until a ranger woke us up to check our camp pass.  The rain eventually let up and we (Chuck actually) made a yummy meal of vegetables and curry and rice.  We woke up the next mornign to  a clear sky and were able to dry the tent in the sun while we ate oatmeal and drank tea and coffee.  Two of our friends that we had met in Wellington ended up at the same campsite, so we decided to hike the next day's kilometers together.  The second day's hike was beautiful and we doddled quite a bit stopping to take pictures and to hike up to a little pool with a waterfall called Cleopatra's Pool (Chuck jumped in).  After the pool, we realized that it was much later in the day than we had thought, and that ou friends were going to be late for their water taxi and for their tidal crossing.  So, we split off from them so they could speed hike and so we could still go at a slower pace.  We were so tired by the time we got to Bark Bay (about 2 hours from our campsite that we had reserved for the night) that we decided to just camp in Bark Bay (on the beach again) and get up early the next day for hiking the extra hours.  It was beautiful there as well, and Chuck made us a really good dinner which we ate with a couple from NZ and Amsterdam, adn a German girl.  We got up to hike in the morning (first Chuck made really good pancakes) and got about a half an hour into the hike, before I realized that my back just wasn't up to any more carrying of my pack.  My spine is crooked and not really built for backpacking, and I had been getting increasingly sore with each our of carrying my pack (despite the fact that Chuck kept taking on pieces of my stuff, my sleeping bag, my jeans).  We finally decided to turn around and take a water taxi back to Marahau that afternoon so that I didn't hurt my back so badly that I wouldn't be able to hike later.  It was a good decision, but frustrating for me because I hate it when I can't do things because of my back.  But, it was fine in the end.  The water taxi back was a cool way to see the coast, and we saw seals, and a big sting ray in the clear water.  Very cool.  We were happy to see it because we were looking for rays when we were snorkelling in Fiji and hadn't seen any.  We spent the past night in Nelson and will spend tonight here as well before heading off to Arthur's Pass national park for more hiking (pack free).  We decided to rent a car since it is actually cheaper than taking the bus and we want to save ourselves the time it would take us to hitch hike (it is much less populated here and would be harder to hitch, we hear).  So, things are good, we are having a great time still.  The South Island is so beautiful and the scenery is much more natural than the North Island.  People are wonderful and friendly as they have always been.  I"ll post pictures from Abel Tasman soon when I'm on a different computer.  :)

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