Wednesday 2nd February
7.45am at wharf to meet shuttle for Kaiteriteri. Crusader was the name of the boat. A huge cat with 2 x 6 litre Scania motors. The sea was flat calm and clear. We saw hundreds of dolphins on the way.
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| Looking at Abel Tasman |
Dropped on the beach without even getting my feet wet. Then on the bus over the hill to Marahau to pick up the tent, cooker, gas and billy. As you can imagine my pack was already bursting at the seams. Luckily the tent was light and came in a long bag which I tied under my pack and I stuffed the billy etc in there as well.
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| This is it....ready, set, go! |
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| Map of the walk |
10:17am
Started the Abel Tasman National Park walk. I felt a bit like a packhorse. Through the park there are a few tidal crossings thankfully I timed my week right.
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| The start of the walk. I ordered the best of weather as you can see |
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| I knew i should have Kayaked! |
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| Looking back at Marahau where I started walking and hired tent, billy and cooker |
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| Coquille Bay |
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| Adele Island |
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| beautiful clear bays |
1:30pm
Arrived at Torrent Bay. Tide was just right, had to take shoes and socks off and walk through water. Toilets on the other side. Off with the pack again and in the loo? I can’t remember what cartoon it was but where the bee’s chased the beer, that was me. I was outta there. I only carried 2 x 750ml water bottles with me and the tap I found the water had to be boiled for 3 mins first. But……………………….about half a km further on the track, mouth watering and sweat running I saw a tramper with a can of coke!
Where did you get that I asked? She explained just along the track they are selling them out of a chilly bin in ice and an honesty box. $2 per can. So I got 2. One for then and one I saved for later. Maybe not the best thing to have when you are dehydrated and had to climb a big hill. Also it made the rest of the walk take absolutely forever.
4.30pm 6HRS 20.8kms
Arrived at Bark Bay with sore shoulders, blisters and an amazing feeling of satisfaction and achievement and fresh air in my lungs and best of all the had a tap with filtered water. How you appreciate our most precious commodity. Two bottles later I was hydrated again.
Ok so where’s the tent instructions? All up in about 5 mins. (Well there wasn’t much to it) Remember that ½ bottle of Wither Hills Sav I bought in Blenheim, well I stuffed it in the middle of my sleeping bag. So it was in the billy and in the cold sand while I bathed my tired body in the sea in such a beautiful bay. Happy Hour now. Cheese singles, salami, crackers and wine. What a luxury but I think I deserved it.
Creamy cheese pasta for dinner and a latte to finish off……true the packet one’s just add water, I added a little milk powder as well. Although I applied anti-bug deterrent three times that night you could still see them landing on you. Like they were immune to it.
Bed time now………………..hard dirt with a sprinkling of sand and that’s it. Man it was hard and my muscles were tight and my blisters were on side heels and inside fronts.
But you know what it was all worth it you knew it wasn’t forever and to have this opportunity to do this was special.
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