NZ : Abel Tasman Coastal Walk.

So... we survived the Abel Tasman, just about.

Day 1:

We began the walk on a Sunday, this was not to be 'the day of rest.'

This was our longest day walking a mammoth 26km (16 1/4 miles) from our car to our first stop over destination of Bark Bay hut. We were walking for the first time with our packs on our backs, feeling more like pack-mules than enthusiastic hikers. An extra 10kg can make all the difference to your stamina.

The weather was in our favour and the scenery was gorgeous. We passed golden beaches, rocky outcrops and unmodified estuaries.  At 22,500 hectares Abel Tasman is New Zealands smallest but most beautiful natural park.We tramped through dense jungle which was welcome respite from the glaring sun.

Our half way mark for the day was Anchorage Bay, another hut site closed for the season. It was lunchtime when we reached this point and our first opportunity to play with the gas stove, heating up soup and coffee amidsts swarms of nippy sandflies. This was where we were first introduced to the formidable sandfly after hearing so much about them from passing travellers. We are still debating which are worse mosquitoes or sandflies.

The undulating track was sandy gravel golden sandy and slippery in places from the damp forest.
The route contained many foot bridges over lovely little burbling streams and waterfalls, howeveer by the end of day one we were vowing that if we see another footbridge, "we'll HUFF and we'll PUFF and we'll... I dunno, walk over it." We were sick of them.

Approximately 20km in to the track Susie's feet started to develop small blisters which weren't, as yet, comprimising her ability to walk. We kept up moral by fiercly hunting out and photographing a variety of mushrooms and chanting louding 'PEAK PHYSICAL FITNESS!'

"When I say PEAK, you say PHYSICAL...PEAK" 
"PHYSICAL"
"PEAK"
"PHYSICAL"

We arrived at Bark Bay Hut just before sunset, in time to scope out our abode before we were left in the pitch darkness of night without any electricity or fire. We managed to cook our Watties packeted dinner by torchlight and sat around the table feeling very sorry for ourselves with our aching bodies. There were a few other walkers in the hut from around the world all doing different routes.

We hit the sack early ready for a more mellow walk the next day.

Day 2: In the morning we cooked up a hearty porridge for breakfast and splashed our grimy faces with cold water and all the other bits got a seeing to with a moist towelette. We were delicate that day.

This was to be our first tidal crossing to contend with along the trail and timing was of utmost importance, setting off off at 8:20am toward Awaroa Hut around 13km away. Walking the track we were able to see an array of wildlife and hear the calls of many different birds. One of our favourites in particular were the friendly and curious Fantail. As the little birds darted and weaved down the track infront of us we were able to take in the beautiful sceneray around us. Our arrival time at the Hut was 13:00, by which time Susie's feet were raw with open blisters, her little toes had been completely degloved.

This afternoon was ours to do with as we pleased. We napped, read books, watched the sun go down and were greatful to a fellow tramper who was able to get the castiron fire place roaring with wood from the woodshed. We lay infront of the fire warming our sore and tired limbs and generally just enjoying the wildreness at its best. Our dinnner that evening consisted of nuts and raisins for entree, 2 sachets of cheesy pasta, each sachet apparently enough for 4 servings... this made hardly a bowl full each. STARVING!

As we bedded down for the night, with only the light from the flickering flames we were both dubious as to how Susie's feet were going to hold up the following day with yet another tidal crossing and 13kms to tackle.

Day 3: The ambition for our third day was to reach the final hut Wharwharangi, and the end of the Abel Tasman track. We had a long wait that morning until we could embark on this portion of the trip due to the tidal crossing, we were practically stranded by the sea in our hut until the estuary had cleared. The local Park Ranger visited and warned us that no matter how low the tide, the icy cold water of the crossing would be up to our knees at the very least. Stripping down to our pants and donning big waterproof Ponchos we danced around psyching ourselves up for the challenge. The water was freezing and the sand banks were treacherous with the remnants of thousands of crushed shells. Shivering and complaining we made it across and quickly washed off our feet and dressed, by this time Susie's blisters were full of sand and very tender, we talked long and hard about the possibility of her not finishing the hike and finally after much deliberation she decided to concede. We had a final sandfly-full farewell lunch of tuna sandwiches and held back tears, parting ways as Jan headed Northwards and Susie awaited the AquaTaxi to head back to the car.

Susie was faced with 1.5m swells on the journey back to shore and was feeling a little bit squiffy as she chatted away to two guys from New Zealand who had just completed the Heaphy track and also had the blisters to prove it. Justin the skipper was enlisted to play a prank on Jan, arriving the next day exclaiming ' Hi Jan, so good to see you, the last time I saw you, you had blonde hair, how was university in Bristol and how's Diesel the dog.' Sooz went back to 'The Barn' hostel and had a sad pasta dinner. While waiting for jan to arrive back the next day she sat in a Kaiteriteri cafe eating a huge blueberry muffin the size of her head and read a book by the fire with a coffee.

Jan carried on the last 7.5km of the track alone, realising how much more scary the dark junglescape was when on your own and going a little crazy. She walked up to Seperation Point and saw a lovely seal basking near the lighthouse before pushing on, upwards and upwards and upwards until reaching the next hut. This was an old Homestead and supposedly haunted. A warm fire, a single candle and a chess set were enough to keep conversation going between the 4 strangers who stayed in the accomodation that night. Jan, being easily spooked, had a rubbish nights sleep and somewhere around 4am enlisted one of the more manly walkers to investigate spooky noises in the kitchen.

Day 4: The morning was damp and clear, there was a rainbow in the sky with its finishing point at Totatarui, the final point of the walk. Jan powered on, bedraggled, sweating and totally knackered she finally arrived at the AquaTaxi point. It was done, the walk was over and Jan watched the passing shoreline amazed at how far they had both come in such a short time.


Torrential rain welcomed the next part of our journey as we headed down the West Coast toward Greymouth.

Peace and Love,

Susie and Jan.