Walking the Walk : Picton to Motueka

---

Walking the Walk is an environmental awareness walk with the aim of stopping a new open cast coal mine from going ahead in Happy Valley, just outside of Westport on the West Coast of the South Island. Happy Valley is home to 13 endangered species of flora and fauna, including a rare carnivorous land snail and the great spotted kiwi. Walk the walk started in Auckland on January 28th, 2008, the second anniversary of the indefinite occupation of Happy Valley by members of the Savehappyvalley Coalition. I have joined the walk in Picton and we hope to reach Happy Valley, on foot, by the end of April. I joined because I wanted to do something about an issue I care about rather than just talking about it.

So far, it's been a very positive experience. It is opening my mind and I'm meeting so many people whose paths would otherwise never cross mine. There's plenty of time to think while you're on the road and I'm having loads of ideas and making the most of the mental solitude, even though I'm not walking alone.

I finally met up with the Walk the Walk crew in Picton on the 31st of March. There were only two other walkers and Mick, our support driver. Heather was great, I recognised her right away from her dreadlocks. The other walker, Josh, was a whole other story. He was unpleasantly drunk and extremely rude. I definitely didn't warm to him. We set up camp at the waterfront in Picton with our banners and tents. It would have been nice to have a quiet night but Josh got more wasted and consequently got more unpleasant. He spent the whole night yelling abuse at us and threatening to burn down our tents. He brought the police down to our camp four times but for some reason they didn't arrest him. Heather and Mick didn't want to kick him off the walk since he'd been with them since Taihape but they laid down the law: no drink or drugs, no abuse and he had to start paying his own way as far as food went. I stayed out of it at that point. After all, it was their show. I was just a newbie.

Our first two days were spent walking along Queen Charlotte Drive, around the Marlborough Sounds. The first day was misty and damp but the second was bright and clear so we got to see the Sounds in two different lights. Josh lasted on his conditions for all of two days. When we walked into Havelock at the end of the second day we met a woman called Debbie. She was sitting on a bench at the roadside with a cask of wine. Unfortunately she offered it to us and Heather and Josh accepted. Heather just had a wee bit but Josh started sucking it down like he was dying of thirst. We had quite some time to wait for Mick to arrive with our gear so he had quite a bit of time to get pissed again. Debbie invited us back to her place for showers and we decided to wait for Mick there. The shower was lovely, as were Debbie and her stepdaughter, but Josh just got less and less lovely the more alcohol he put away. By the time Mick arrived he was pretty much comatose, only waking up briefly to fling abuse at one of us or at our host. We made dinner in Debbie's kitchen and then had the difficult task of getting a putrid Josh down into town where we set up camp. It was decided, to my relief, that he was off the trip first thing in the morning. Cursing at Debbie when she'd shown us such hospitality was unforgivable.

Next morning Josh gave us one last hurdle to cross. He was on and on at Mick to let him drive the car. Just a little way up the road since he hadn't driven in ages. Please, please, please... Mick gave in and let him move the car to a different car park. Josh took the car up the road and back first with his gangster music blaring and came back with the police behind him. It turns out he didn't have his restricted like he said but was on a disqualified learners. He got himself arrested and our car was impounded for 28 days pending his court date. Argh!!! Mick had to hitch all the way to Blenheim, where they'd taken the car, and beg them to let it out so we could continue the walk. It cost him $257 and cost us a day of walking. Heather was a mess. Understandably; she'd just walked ten weeks to have her campaign stalled by an idiot she didn't even want around. But it worked out ok in the end. We left Josh in Havelock and even got 10kms in before we camped that night at Canvastown.

After Havelock we headed up to Pelorus bridge where we had planned our next camp. We got there early and had lunch at the cafe there before talking to the manager about what we were doing. We'd expected to meet with people who were sympathetic to the cause, being in a little haven of native bush in the middle of the logging industry, but it turns out we were way off. We were told that they didn't want our kind around there and we couldn't stay at the campground even if we paid for it. We were moved along and had to walk another 8 kms to Rai Valley, never mind that we were paying customers at their cafe and had alread walked all the way from Canvastown. But in the end, Rai Valley had a lovely reserve to camp on by the river and we passed a quiet night with lots of sleep.

After that it was a couple of days walk down into Nelson. One of those days was a long 28kms, the furthest I'd walked on the walk so far. It wasn't too taxing but it was dark and raining when we finally made camp.

Getting into Nelson felt a bit like coming home. We stopped in at Retreat backpackers and I caught up with a few folks. Tammy, the manager, said we could come in and have showers and do our laundry while we were in town. That night we went out to a Reggae gig with a local band called Wicked Draw. It was 3am when we left there and went to Anzac park to set up our camp. We'd heard that Nelson was a bit tough on camping in public places but we had no interruptions and even stayed in our tents until 9.30 the next morning. The next day we spent getting clean and I bought a new tent, having decided that my tiny bivvy shelter wasn't going to cut it for another three weeks. I love my new tent, it feels like a palace for one but sleeps two and only weights 1kg more than my teeny weeny one did. Best decision I've made this year.

For our second night in Nelson we moved our camp down to the riverside ourside the i-Site and DOC offices. Once again we spent a quiet night with no visit from the police or the council. We also had an additional two people join our camp. A homeless man slept in our spare tent and a nice boy called David climbed in with Heather. We added our support to the Tibet rally in town the next day. It was a bit of a sad protest given that Helen had just signed the free trade aggreement with China but we made a bit of noise anyway. Better than staying out of it and pretending it doesn't matter. Heather and I also painted new banners to carry while we walked.

That night Heather opted to stay with Dave again, this time in his van. Mick stayed with the local green party rep who'd befriended us at the Tibet rally so I stayed at retreat one more time. Partly to thank them for letting us shower etc and partly to say goodbye to all the lovely folk who were staying there. I met a wonderful Austrian girl called Kera. One of those people you just instantly love. I also spent a good part of the evening listening to Cameron play his guitar and sing. He's phenomenal - most talented musician I've heard in ages. It was a good night but I was glad to get going the next day.

We headed toward Motueka, thinking it'd take two days to cover the 51kms. Instead we got quite lost on our way out of town, detouring along the beach, through campgrounds, by the airport and back into the next suburb. We ended up setting up camp in Richmond which is only 13kms from Nelson. It took us six hours to get there. But it was a good camp, very visible, and we got lots of positive toots from passing cars. Our next night was at McKees reserve at ruby bay. Pretty uneventful with pretty views.

The next day we had an easy 15kms into Motueka where we set up our tents behind a local savehappyvalley coalition-friendly house. We've been there two nights now and plan to stay one more because our car is a bit sad. But I like Motueka. We've met some great people, again, and even got interviewed for Fresh FM last night. It was my first radio interview so it was very exciting. The dj was a guy called Alan who we've been having dinner with while we're here. He's great. He's Belgian but his accent is mixed in with Irish (he lived there for 11 years) and Rasta (because he listens to loads of reggae). He's part of the Peace Tree Walks in the Motueka area where they walk for a week or so visiting schools and planting trees. He'd been a part of a couple of similar walks in Ireland and wanted to introduce it here, too. Such a nice idea.

Tomorrow we're visiting the markets with our stall and banners and will hopefully talk to some locals about happy valley and solid energy. Then we're planning to camp on the proposed McDonald's site in town with some local protesters. Wish us luck, I don't think it'll be such a comfy night as the ones we've had lately. After that, it's onwards to Westport.

160 odd kms down, 210 or so to go. And so far, no blisters! Yay for hikers wool!

---

Photos

Just around the corner
walking along Queen Charlotte Drive we came upon a tree slaughterhouse. It smelled nice, though.

Out of sight, out of mind
just over the edge on Queen Charlotte Drive

Debbie
She took us in, gave us showers, let us use her kitchen. In return Josh was rude, abusive and tried to pee on her carpet. :(

Alistair
He's wearing a great t-shirt!

Pirates!
T (a nelson local) and Heather.