Abel Tasmin Coastal Track...my first tramping adventure

---

---

My first real lonely planet adventure involved me, my 30L pack, a sleeping bag, lots of dried food and the Abel Tasmin "great walk". For 4 nights and 3 days I lived and travelled as a snail, carrying all my belongings and food with me. It was a wonderful experience, along side golden beaches and through thick fern filled jungle!

Well all i can say is wow! Four days walking and three night sleeping out in the huts. I could have stayed forever. The weather - i got sunburn! Day 1, 2 and 4 were amazing, blue skies and not a cloud in sight...unfortunatly day 3 was stormy and wet for the morning but it blew off in the evening. AND my waterproofing over everything did the trick perfectly!

The first day i struggled a little with my pack, carrying a change of clothes, sleeping bag, food and a stove and gas along with some emergency medical equipement (bandages and paracetamol!). My shoulders ached a little but after day 1 my feet were the thing that drew most of my attention sadly. I began to get a giant blister on my right heel, but i kept applying plaster over plaster and soildered on regardless. I felt like a snail, and dam it felt good. Most of the time i was on my own on the track, and would reach the secluded little beaches and enjoy my lunch in the sunshine with no one baout but the odd gull. And let me tell you about the beaches, golden sand, blue blue waters, right on the edge of the jungle. it's not forest over here, it's blood jungle with a narrow path cut through the dense trees and ferns, god bless who ever had to cut that path!

Being alone with my own toughts was interesting. I began thinking about the most random things as i covered the 4 hour walks between huts. I would take lots of breaks, although the track is described as "easy" there were parts that would have challenged the fittest of us! Possibly just the little detours down to the beaches and look out points, which were so hard to walk past, even with ever increasing blisters on my soft skin in new boots (rookie mistake, I know!).

I was quite nervous about the huts, about being alone, about rationing my food, about cooking my dinner on a stove, about a lot of things really. Firstly the huts. They were basic, but brilliant and the same time. Each hut composed of a central area where there were benches to eat and counters to prepare food and set up your stove. The central area also had a hear of some sort, LPG (some sort of gas I guess) in two and a stove/fire in the third, which i took lots of pleasure in making fire with kindling and logs all on my own! There is no electricity, so once it gets dark (about 5pm) you had to dig out the candels and head torches, quite romantic really! Off the central room there were either 2 or 3 bunk rooms. These consisted of raised platforms with numerous plastic covered matresses where you would lay your sleeping bag and get your well earned rest. You took your shoes off at the door and swept out the sand when you were leaving. In some huts there might be a minor infestation of mice or something similar so at night you have to secure away your food in your pack, or hung from the celing as some clever canadians showed me (bear proofing they called it!). What suprised me was that each of the huts was slightly different, the lay out wasn't always the same. I preferred different parts of each hut. Some had running water inside the hut with sinks, others you had to venture out into the dark to where the possoms might get you to clean your dishes and fill your water bottles! Some huts had treated water which was safe to drink, some didn't. You had to either boil your water for 3 minutes or use these magic water treatment tablets which needed about 30 minutes to work. I went for the latter option, as i was concerned that the gas i had with me wouldn't last the 4 days i needed it for. Oh, the huts also have toilets, in a seperate block usually about 50m from the main hut, which actually flushed AND had toilet paper - i was not prepared for these luxuries! We were instructed to bring TP and i had a limited supply which had to act to gather my runny nose's dischare too! I was in heaven when i found giant loo rolls! The small luxuries are indeed the best!

Being alone wasn't an issue. When there were people i made sure to talk to them! You do indeed have to take advantage of these opportunities. Although at times i was happy being alone and felt almost disturbed by the presence of others. As it happened a canadian couple from Calagary were on the same hut/route as me, and they were friendly folk. I would try to organise it so that i was having dinner at the same time as them each evening so we could natter and be sociable. I picked their brain about everything and anything and they were (luckily!) happy to answer all my questions. They had done quite a bit of travelling on the north island so i got a few ideas of where to go and how to get there. Some times i worried that i may be intruding, but i felt that maybe they would benefit from having some one else to talk to, as they were together on the track all day. It was suprising how you could make a recommended 3 hour walk take up to 6 hours. Each of the days walks were approx 3-4 hours but i would usually leave one hut at about 10am and not arrive until 3pm (ish). I became better at stopping to take things in, as I'm usually trying to do as much as possible in one day, out here it's not like that. You take your time, enjoy every secluded inlet and bay, every swing bridge and every hill climb (not as much!). One evening I arrived very early at the hut which would be my home for the night. I had left early and made good time, and managed to skip part of the track by doing a tidal crossing. I landed at the hut at 2pm and it was far too early to make dinner and tend to the evenings activites. I was alone at the hut, which was very peaceful at the bottom on a large tidal inlet and it was basked in the evening sun, which was a welcome after the storm clouds of the morning had passed. I took a good look around and chilled on the front steps in the sun for a while. I picked my bed inside and prepared my drinking water, which needed to be treated. I spent quite a bit of time tending to the fire as i figured people would be arriving with damp clothes after the mornings storms. I had noticed on the way in that there was a shower (cold of course!). A real luxury in the tramping world! I having a wash when i walked in, but wasn't sure i was warm enough or would warm up. But now with the fire raging in the hut, and the sun really shining down, i figured it was now or never. The way the shower worked, it was partially surrounded by a "natural" screen made from branches of trees which had been woven together, providing some sort of privacy, but not alot, especially from those who would be arriving at the track next...who knew when! I decided to take the plunge, grabbed my towel, stripped off and washed myself in cold water with soap very briefly...it was amazing! The sun shining down, the feeling of clean after 3 days of walking and sleeping in the same clothes...wow! Afterwards I sat on the steps of the hut enjoying the evening sun, waiting for the next person to arrive. It was so silent and still and the sun warmed my toes! I sat writing my diary entry on the front steps in the fading light and from a distance heard the footsteps of the next tramper on the sand. I could here him from far away it was that silent! My perfect quiet was to be distrubed...alas!

Food wasn't a problem really. I had porridge every morning for breakfast, i found these little sachets which cook really quickly and have 1 person portions in them. I usually had one and a half. I would have tea also, and then reuse that tea bag for later on! I didn't bring enough! Then for lunch i would have crackers, cheese and salami. Snacks throughout the day included nuts, rasins, apples and cereal bars. For my evening meal, around 5pm before it good too dark, i would have either cous cous or noodles and tinned tuna with some more cheese and crackers if i wasn't feeling satisfied. Tea would happen now too, black no sugar and the chocolate I'd hidden from myself earlier in the day. I would deliberately put it in the bottom of my pack so i couldn't nibble on it throughout the day, no matter how tired or down i was feeling, rasins would have to do! I actually never went hungry, although i was assured by a guy in Wellington that my 30L bag was far too small to take tramping for 4 days! I sure showed him!


Each day was an adventure fill of delightful bird song, dense forest and golden beaches. When my 4th day came, all too quickly i was very reluctant to leave the national park and beautiful coast. The water taxi picked me up and some other wanders and treated us to the local fur seals living off Tonga island which is next to the national park. The lonely bottle nose dolphin - locally known as Geroge came out to play in the boats wake too, which was lovely! Only then we were informed of the earth quake which had happened a few days previously about 200 miles south of us. We felt nothing, thankfully!

I ended up in the water taxi (which holds about 12 people) with 3 guys from west cork, one who worked in Limerick. They offered me a lift back to Moteuka, where I was staying for the night in their cosy rented camper van.

That evening I treated myself to a lamb and beef roast and a couple of glasses of wine while watching the first of the tri nations rugby matches (NZ v Austrailia) in one of the local bars, after a hot shower of course - I was really wary of how badly I smelled at that stage! It was a lovely way to end my few days in the wild, although i'm planning my next trip already. I've also picked up a guide to the southern stars to hopefully learn something about the skies in this end of the world. My first night in the hut I had made the mistake of drinking water before going to bed and needed to pop out to the toilet block about 11pm. Nervously I looked out for possoms and other creatures of the night with my head torch and on the way back took a glance upwards. I almost fell over. The stars were simply unbelievable. The milky way was as clear as day and I spent several mintues on the beach gazing in awe with a sore neck. The lack of light polution in the wild really does make a difference!

A DOC description of the walk is here...

http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/nelson-marlborough/golden-bay/abel-tasman-coast-track/track-description/

And a DOC map here...

http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/nelson-marlborough/golden-bay/abel-tasman-coast-track/track-description/track-map/

with a profile view too..

http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/nelson-marlborough/golden-bay/abel-tasman-coast-track/track-description/track-profile/

---