The Abel Tasman Coastal Track

---

Soon after leaving Wellington, I arrived in a little town called Nelson. Nelson is famous for having the best weather in all of New Zealand, mainly the most number of sunny days. It was a lovely little town, nestled right in the middle of a long mountain range, which somehow made the town feel very cosy. It actually reminded me a little of Banff, with smaller mountains though. From Nelson there are a wide array of outdoor activities available surrounding the town, mainly in the nearby Abel Tasman National Park. New Zealand has chosen 9 different tracks and classified them as their country’s nine great walks. One of these walks is called the Able Tasman Coastal Track which is 51 kms long and they say takes an average of 3 to 5 days to complete. One of the major barriers to completing this walk any faster is that there are two places where you can only continue the walk by crossing what they call a “tidal crossing”, meaning you can only cross this part when the tide is low. You have to plan your entire trip around these crossings and the low tide times that change daily. I decided I wanted to complete this walk in no more than three days but once I was there, I discovered it could have easily been done in two.

I spent one day in Nelson gathering the proper gear and supplies (mainly light weight food) and then took the bus to a hostel located two minutes from the start of the track. It was here that I rented my cooking stove, fuel and pot. Since I had to carry quite a few things already, I decided against adding a tent to the mass and arranged to spent two nights in huts provided by the Department of Conservation along the walking track.

December 21st I woke up early and set off around 8:30, I had to walk about 23 kms to reach the first hut. The rain started literally two minutes into the walk so I had to stop to take out my trusty MEC rain backpack cover. Just as I was getting ready to move on, an Israeli guy named Oded noticed I was walking alone and asked if I would like some company. As we began our militant march into the track I quickly learned that he had just completed his compulsory military service as first sergeant and had somewhat recently returned from battle in Lebanon. Seriously, the people you meet…. He was nice company for the first half but I was happy to see him go after the first 10kms. Although he didn’t say, I suspect I was not living up to his normal soldier standards and I may have been slowing him down. I was also a little relieved to be on my own because the trail was quite narrow and often ran along great cliff like hills. Oded didn’t seem to notice this though and followed so closely behind me that he was practically beside me. With the weight of my pack I was a little less steady on my feet and had a few dicey moments where Oded insisted on walking beside me, not noticing I was teetering uncomfortably close to the edge. I had visions of falling over and the weight of my pack log rolling me down to the bottom…what a sight that would have been!

One of the disadvantages of walking on my own was that I tend to just want to get to my destination instead of taking my time to enjoy the scenery. I made it to my hut almost three hours earlier than the time they suggest it takes to get there. My body was clearly not happy with me as I could literally feel the complaints of every ligament in my knees and muscle in my feet. Luckily I had stretched as often as possible along the trail, so despite hobbling around that night, I was fine to get going the next morning. The one thing I couldn’t do much about though was the bubbling blisters that had made a nice little home between my toes. They simply refused to re-locate no matter how many times I “burst their bubble” (does coming up with that joke make me old?).

December 22nd I woke up well before my alarm to hoards of little kids and sleepy parents trying to get moving for the day. Surprise! Not only is it Christmas holidays in NZ, but it is also summer holidays, which means no matter how far out you are into the wilderness, quiet time is non-existent . No worries though, I got up and started to prepare breakfast. I pulled out my pita bread half laughing at everyone who was trying to peel the pieces apart of their now squished loaves of bread. Oh but wait, what was that smell? I just bought these pita’s, surely they couldn’t have gone bad in one day?! It was then that I caught a glimpse of the tiny printed word “garlic” on the package…and let me just say that the size of the word did NOT represent the size of the flavor. Yep, I started my day off with a peanut butter and strawberry jam garlic pita sandwich. Lets just say I wouldn’t suggest combining those three Jelly Belly flavors.

After the sickness in my stomach subsided, I got started on the next part of my journey. I only had 11.5 kms to walk that day and 5 to the first tidal crossing which I couldn’t cross until 2:30pm. I took my time a little more than the previous day, enjoying the wondrous scenery around me. I have to remark on the streams and oceans in New Zealand. This water is undoubtedly the clearest water I have ever encountered in my entire life. You can literally see the shape, size and color of every rock, stone, pebble and creature at the bottom. I would often get lost gazing into the water. The other thing about tramping (or hiking) in NZ is the smell. It’s almost impossible to describe, but if I tried I would say it’s like mixing the crisp cool air of fall with the fresh sweet smell of spring. Sound about right Mom?

After making my first tidal crossing, which wasn’t too bad with water only up to my knees, I finished my walking for the day arriving at the second hut with enough time to read a book in the sun and get eaten alive by sand flies. This second hut was located only an hour and a half from the end and right beside the second tidal crossing. I also discovered that Oded from the previous day was spending the night there. He told me that he had decided to ignore the suggested crossing times of the tidal crossing number one. Instead he just waded in fully clothed and with his pack on his head and water up to his chest. “It was okay,” he said. That afternoon we also watched impatient hikers trying to cross the second tidal crossing as the tide was slowly going out. The thing about this is that you have no idea how deep the water actually is until you reach the centre. They got there and found out it was too deep and had to wait in frigid water until the tide receded enough that they could cross.

The next morning I woke up at 5am to torrential rains hitting the roof. I was quite happy I had decided against the tent but realized I had to get up at 6am to cross at low tide. Thankfully the rain stopped just in time for me to cross and waited until I had reached the end of the track before it started back up again…what luck! On that crossing, the water was so icy cold that it took my breath away and I had to consciously tell myself to breath deeply so wouldn’t faint in the river. Once I reached the end, the rain ruined my original plans to venture up an extra trail for a 4-hour return hike to see some seal colonies. Instead I phoned the water taxi company and took the first morning boat back to the start of the trail, retracing 3 days of walking in 30 minutes by water.

There are three things I learned on this trip and although they do not seem very profound they are very important. The first is that zip lock bags are the greatest invention EVER. The second is that there are only two times in life when women are thankful for their hips. I imagine the first and most important would be while in labor, but the second is certainly while carrying a backpack. That hip strap is honestly a savior. My third discovery was that there were substantially more solo women hikers then men. On that note...the end.

---

Photos

A picture taken en route...
...notice all the mountains on the horizon? It's like this everywhere in New Zealand!

Tidal Crossing #2
This was as I was crossing at low tide, reminding myself to breath.

Comments

[Joanne]

Greetings from the SOO!
MERRY CHRISTMAS DUDE!!!! Great to here you are having a blast. I love reading your blog as it brings back all of my great travelling memories (although with different scenery). Anyhoo, just wanted to say hi, and let you know I was thinking of you this christmas. We miss you in the soo and wish you were here to celebrate with us in TRUE soo styles across for new years, we will definitely toast to your adventures. I am off to London January 9th. So let me know when you have a better idea of when you will be reaching jolly old england and we will have to meet up for a pint or two! Miss ya, Jo

[Betty van Kerkhof]

Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas & Great New Year
Heather: I read your account of this hike with interest and a little bit of envy. Michael and I spent some time in New Zealand a thousand years ago, well actually it just feels like that. It was actually about 20. I remember the beautiful beaches, Kauri trees, giant trees ferns, the Rotorua hot springs, hiking up active volcanoes, etc. I also remember that there were 25 million sheep and 5 million people. I remember eating lamb sausage with about 25 sheep watching me, or so it seemed. A forester classmate of mine - Janice Bianco married a New Zealander and lives on the South Island. She is into hiking, as well. You might be surprised to know that Gillian is now learning to drive, and they wonder why monthers get grey hair. Actually she is doing fine. As I am sure your parents have told you, we had a GREEN Christmas in SSM this year. We are hoping that the snow arrives soon. We are glad to hear that you are doing well, stay safe and take care. Betty

[Dad]

Garlic What?
Great descriptions Heather. I feel like I'm right there with you. You had me worried at one point though. For a moment I thought you might have inherited Granddad Hibbard's tastes in food!