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Published: June 23rd 2009
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Me starting off on the trackHello everyone
Well I am going to have to miss out two blogs here because I've done something really stupid. I've left all the photos of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and my time down in Christchurch with Cat & Adam on a CD at Cat & Adams house. I had to clear my memory card to use in my new camera (my other one broke when I was doing the crossing) so I saved everything onto a CD and then left it there for safekeeping! Whoops, nevermind I'll just add those two on at the end when I get the CD back. I would have just done the blogs without them but the pictures are really good.
After I left Christchurch I drove back up to Nelson where I have been staying and using as a base to go to other places and I came here to here to get ready to do the Abel Tasman National Park three day coastal walk. I love Nelson, it's lovley. It's very laid back and there is a bit of a hippy feel to it. Theres lots of live music, street performers and nice cafes and bars. The town centre has everything
in it without feeling like a city and it's all really pretty. The best part about Nelson is that it is the sunniest part of New Zealand. They had more hours of sunshine here last year than England got in the last decade. Even though the days can be cold and the mornings are usually frosty in winter the skies are usually blue and the sun shining. Every day I am here I am in really good mood. The hostel that I stay in is nice. It's called Tasman Bay Backpackers. I get on with all the staff and it's free breakfast in the morning and free chocolate pudding at night. They also helped me to sort out my walk and lent me some equipment for it.
I set off for my walk on the Wednesday morning. Before I went I had to book my tramping huts I was staying in online with the Department Of Conservation and also check the low tide times as some parts of the track can only be crossed at low tide with it being a coastal track. The Abel Tasman Coach Company took me to the trail head and after I'd told the
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You can kayak the coast aswell driver where I was going and what I was doing I set off. My first day was the hardest. I needed to walk 21k to get to my first hut and I'd packed everything except the kitchen sink in my backpack which made everything, especially going up hills really hard work. The track was nice and was mostly native bush. There were lots of side tracks going off down to beaches and lookouts and it would have been nice to see some of them but at the moment it goes dark here at about 5pm and the bus had been delayed in the morning so unfortunately I didn't have time to see some parts of the track which was a shame. If I did the walk again I would definately stay at the Anchorage Hut the first night and take my time on this part. I really struggled for the last two hours of the day. My pack seemed to be getting heavier and the straps started digging into my arms. My feet and legs were really sore & I had a bit of chaffing going on, but we'll not bother going into that one. At this point I was
wondering why I had bothered setting off when I could be sat in the hostel reading a good book in front of the fire and waiting for the free chocolate pudding. After what seemed like forever I finally arrived at Bark Bay hut & I burst through the door with a big cheery "Hello". I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I got anyway. I think I was expecting a huge welcome, a roaring fire and some pats on the back for walking so far but all I got was a few dissaproving looks at my feet as I'd not taken my muddy boots off before I walked in the hut. The hut was quite big with a crappy heater in one tiny corner of it. It wasn't freezing but it wasn't warm either. I dumped my backpack in the bunk room which was so cold you could see your breath. Shortly after I got there I decided to make something to eat before my legs seized up and I couldn't be bothered. As usual I made a total arse of myself, I wasn't bothered though I'm used to it now and it cheered my night
up anyway. I set up my camp stove and put my new billy can on the top and sat down with a Japanese family that were all slurping noodles really loudly. I'd not noticed that they were doing it before I sat down and then it was too late so I had to listed to them, as my Dad would call it "snacking" for ages. I was just sat thinking how annoyed my Dad would be getting about it when all off a sudden they started gasping and pointing at my stove and then everyone in the hut turned round to have a look aswell. I'd managed to start a fire by not taking the price label off the bottom of my new billy can. To make matters worse I panicked a bit with all the attention and tried to put it all out with my new plastic camping "spork". I learnt so many lessons on this little trip and the first one was don't try and put a fire out with plastic. Anyway after all the drama and excitement was over I managed to make myself a cup of tea and a cup a soup with a bit of
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Trampers crossing the bay at high tide cous cous in it. It had already gone dark and there is no electricity in the huts so I whipped out my new headtorch with a bit of a flourish because it's a good one and I wanted them all to see it and think I was a bit professional. I decided to go outside to the sink to do my washing up. When I got up I realised that my legs had seriously seized up and I had a bit of a waddle going on. When I was waddling back to the hut I learned the downfall that the person who designed headtorches didn't think of. I hope noone saw me waddling along & throw all my washing up in the mud when a moth flew into my eye - attracted to my super bright head lamp! I ran back inside the hut and sat back down with the Japanese family who had lit some candles round the table. It took me ages to figure out that the Japanese man was only squinting so much because I still had my headlamp on and I was sat directly across from him. I started apologising and went to turn it off
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A lot of the national park reminded me of Thailand but I managed to get it onto the strobe light setting?! It started flashing in his face! How embarassing! By the time all this had happened it was only 6.15pm. I was in for a long, boring night and I spent most of it wondering why the hell my headlamp had a strobe light setting anyway and possible future uses for it.
The next day I set off on the four hour walk to Awaroa Hut and I was in a really good mood considering the crap, interrupted sleep id had what with the Japanese family whispering really loudly (probably about me) and a snorer on either side of me. The next day was much better and I enjoyed it a lot more. I took my time and took lots of pictures. I had quite a few nice rests along the way but I couldn't stop for over five minuites as my legs kept seizing up and it was really hard to get going again. When I got to the next hut it was so much nicer than the previous one. The sun was shining on the porch, the log fire was already burning and everyone was nice and
chatty. The Japanese family turned out to be lovley and had travelled all over the world backpacking before they had their children. There was three older New Zealanders who I got on really well with called Marty, Miles and Susan and they were really posh. When it went dark and we had all had their meals they lit the candles and invited me to drink whisky and play cards with them. I was a bit unsure about it at first. I'm terrible at card games, I always get all the rules wrong and end up accidently cheating and spoiling the whole game and I suspected this lot wouldn't be having a round of the usual backpackers game of "Shithead" either but I was bored and with another long night ahead I decided to give it a go. I think the whisky might have helped things along but I really enjoyed myself - a bit too much actually. At one point their poshness rubbed off on me and I caught myself say "crikey" when I picked up my cards and saw that I had a bad hand and I said "Blimey" once aswell. I don't know what came over me. The
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The bunks in Bark Bay hut funniest thing was that one of the German guys kept effing really innappropriately and everyone was really embarrased about it and I tutted! ha ha I don't know why I tutted because secretly I found it really funny.
The next morning I had a later start. I had to wait for low tide at 10.30am to cross the estuary. I crossed with the Japanese family. I had to take my shoes and socks off and roll my pants up above the knee and wade through it. It was ice cold and very painful especially when I cut my toe on a shell. The Japanese man carried the kids across and I was really hoping that he might offer me a piggy back but no such luck. When I got to the other side I went to dry my freezing feet and get my boots back on and I accidentally flung my sock in a puddle which I was delighted about. The rest of the walk up to Totaranui was nice and I stopped off at a nice beach for lunch. When I got to Totaranui a water taxi came and picked me up and took me back down the
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The inside of Bark Bay hut coast to Marahau and when I got there my bus took me back to Nelson.
Looking back on the experience I would say it was actually one of my greatest personal achievements and I am proud of myself for setting off with all the gear even though no one else around at the time was up for it. The most important thing I learnt was that if you really want to do something and no one else does then just do it anyway. It's better than missing out and it is much more rewarding to do stuff by yourself sometimes.
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Mum
non-member comment
You nutter.
I should have loved to have seen you staggering round with your head light on. I think you are finding out so much on this journey that you will turn out to be a seriously good tramper Of course you should set out to do what you want - you meet more people and, yes, you could have been sat back at the hostel in the warmth thinking how mad at yourself you are for not having the courage. Jump to it girl. Now you can sit back in the hostel and think of what you DID achieve.