Whew! What a week...
It started with a brief attempt at fly fishing. We need practice, and these little flies kept bugging us. More on that later...
Kristin and I have been on the Abel Tasman trek for 4 days, followed by a bit of a road trip. The Abel Tasman is one of NZ's Great Walks, so named for the pure greatness of the scenery and such. They are also incredibly popular, although do not ask me what came first, their popularity, or the recognition of their greatness. It is a 55 km trek though tropical-ish beaches and isolated coves. Half the trip Kristin commented looked like a pirate movie. All the campsites were on lovely beaches (the pic above is camp #1).
The other thing to know about the Abel Tasman is that it is classified as an easy walk. I am not sure how this was determined, but I can say with some certainty that it was anything but easy with a fully loaded pack on. Although following roughly the contours of the coast, the path goes up and down any hill along the way, with seeming little regard for the steepness of the pitch or directness of the route it takes to get there.
The other thing to know about Abel Tasman is that it is populated by sandflies. These, if you have not been so lucky, are spawned by the Devil himself to plague what would otherwise be a wonderful beach in NZ. They are tiny little flies that bite and leave large, swollen red itchy marks on your skin for DAYS. And they itch so badly as to wake you from sleep, and consume your thoughts while hiking. Also, we thankfully had been talked into an all natural bug spray that "works just great against sandflies." Needless to say, we are both covered in bites, and bought some DEET.
Day one started with a late start from the trail head... about 2 hours later than we were originally planning. Our campsite (which had to be pre-booked and were in high demand) was 14 km away, and it said that it was an easy hike there. We pushed hard, and generally kept good spirits, but the trail took a toll on us. We were definitely getting a bit haggard and were looking forward to camp when we stumbled across a sign that announced that our campsite was another hour on. We lost hope. Well, maybe just a little hope... We sat at that spot, trying to rally ourselves for the extra hour. Less than a minute down the trail we found another sign that said 30 minutes. As we came to learn, the time and distances on the signage were guesses at best. We stumbled into camp, set up the tent, and went right to bed... or at least tried. We were woken by a group of school children who had decided to claim the beach we were staying at as there own.
Day two, and we are not well rested, sore from the day before, and not looking forward to what should be, distance-wise, our longest day. The first three hours are ok, with only a slight mishap along the way. On the middle of a suspension bridge, we paused for a photo. Unfortunately, the wind picked up and blew the hat right off Kristin's head. Not to be set back, and knowing the hat would be essential for the next 2 days, I climbed down to the stream and swan across to get it. The water was so cold that I had trouble breathing. Yikes!
After lunch, the rain began. Of course it started as we tried to cross a section of the trail only crossable during a low tide, and about 3 hours after low tide. We end up drenched to the bone, cold, wet, sore and not in high spirits. It rained the next 3 hours of our hike, and through the night. We went to bed worried our trip would be spent in the rain.
Thankfully, the next day was warm and sunny. Unfortunately, we were rough by this point. 2 days of long hiking with the packs had nearly destroyed us, and we had another 12 km day ahead of us. We did it, but only just. Hiking on beautiful beaches seems like it should be great. Hiking in loose sand with a heavy pack on for hours is less fun... trust me.
Day four was a short hike, followed by much rest and a boat ride out.
It was quite the adventure to be sure.
We have spent the last few days camping, washing and showering and generally relaxing. Today we are in my favorite place ever, Blenheim! We are wine tasting and taking advantage of the free internet (although it is slow and crowded on a Sunday afternoon). Tonight we will head toward the west coast. If we feel up to it, we might give fishing another try or two, although paranoia of the sandflies has made us a little leery. (They love streams, forests, the West Coast and the flesh of the innocent, or so we hear.)
I will try to upload more pics when we get better internet.
~ matt
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