Today Annemarie and I got to experience some of the Abel Tasman track! The Abel Tasman is one of the Great Walks of New Zealand, and a backpacking trip I have wanted to do for decades. It’s a 4 day trip and I only got to hike 2 hours of it, but it was wonderful! We took a boat cruise up the coast (so kiwi, none of the crew wore shoes) saw incredible gold sand beaches, emerald green ocean and lush forest (also saw some seals and penguins).
I got dropped off at Tonga Quarry and hiked over to meet Annemarie at Medlands beach. It was awesome! During the hike I hiked over the highest part of the track, went over a swing bridge, saw a couple of waterfalls, made friends with a weka, and looked enviously at the people who had managed to secure a spot on the track last February when reservations opened (apparently the season sold out in half an hour!). It was such a gorgeous combination of green forest, blue ocean and white sand, it felt like a movie set.
One of the boat crew told us there had been several slips on the track due to heavy winter rains. Since the track opens in September the Department of Conservation didn’t have a lot of time to reroute around the slips, I hiked on one of the rerouted trails and it was pretty steep and narrow, I can’t imagine hiking it with a full backpacking backpack on.
Annemarie enjoyed hanging out at the beach, swimming in Bark Bay and relaxing. It was a humid, sunny day so by the time I met her I was ready to cool down in the water, I think it is the saltiest water I’ve ever been in.
On the drive to and from Kaiteriteri we passed lots of art galleries, the Waimea Old Boys Rugby Club building (Old Boys or Old Girls is the NZ term for alumni), and tons of fruit and plant stands-it’s cherry and berry season here! The road to Kaiteriteri was very windy and narrow, at one point we passed an area with a group of mailboxes that also served as the spot for rubbish bins, recycling and an auto defibrillator. I’m guessing the road further on was even narrower.
We were both ready for bed before it got dark outside (though it doesn’t get totally dark here until after 10pm), it had been a wonderful day on the Abel Tasman.