Abel Tasman

I think I have found my favorite backpackers so far--it's called The Bug in Nelson. It was recommended in the Lonely Planet and back in Omapere I saw someone had written a note beside it saying it was great--so that's where we stayed. We got there late, grabbing some Domino's Pizza for dinner, but no worries--the guy that runs it is rather young, early 30s I would guess, and it seems he runs it all by himself. I was rather impressed with his decorating skills as apparently he renovated the whole place himself back in 2005-2006. It feels like a home but the whole place is VW Bug themed. Nice tile floors, a great, clean kitchen, nice bathrooms, and fantastic rooms. When we got there the guy said they had a lot of last minute bookings come in for shared rooms--which is what John and I booked--and asked if he could move us to a double room (basically our own room) for the same price. No problem! We said. The room was great--small, but cozy and warm, with the most comfortable bed (and Queen size!) I have slept in so far in New Zealand, and our own sink in the room. Even the door decorations were cute, here was ours:

It also had free Wifi, off-street parking, free fresh bread in the morning from his bread maker, and complimentary towels. It was AWESOME. We had a great night's sleep that night after a long day of walking.

The next morning we were up early again to make the 1 1/2 hour drive up to Abel Tasman National Park! The weather that day was great--sunny the whole time and no rain. We got to the start of the track right when we wanted to, as we also had a water taxi to catch at 3:00. The Abel Tasman track is not as long, some 52 kilometers I think, and we were just doing the first 12 Ks. The day before we did 14, bringing our total to 26 Ks (or 16 miles) in 2 days!

 This little bird was eying John's sandwich while he ate in the parking lot before the tramp.

At the very beginning of the track you cross over an estuary on a bridge. In the morning, when we crossed, it was high tide and all the water was inland, but when the water goes out at low tide you can walk all over the thing. Many people had--as indicated by the variety of words and art created with the pebbles and stones that cover the area. One in particular caught our eye and I must admit it was rather clever. For those of you who are familiar with this particular thing, here is what we came across:

You just lost The Game!

For those of you who don't know, The Game is a silly thing made up by some bored person that has somehow spread around the world. Basically, the point of The Game is to not think about The Game. If you think about The Game, you lose, and you announce it out loud that you lost The Game, at which point everyone around you loses as well. It's a stupid thing, and you don't think about it very often, except for those odd occasions of mind wandering. . . or crossing the estuary of the Abel Tasman. Still, very clever rock art.

The Abel Tasman Coast Track was rather different from Queen Charlotte. It was a lot more coast and beach, while the beginning of the Queen Charlotte was more forest. It was also pretty much flat the whole way, save for the few times you went down to the beaches and up back to the track. It was a really nice walk and I think I preferred it over the former. 

Towards the beginning as we were walking we passed a young couple that I instantly recognized. It was people who had worked at ENZA Pak with me!  It was a French guy and German girl, they started on day shift but moved to night shift and the guy said they scooted off as soon as night shift ended. My friend Walter got them jobs on Mt. Ruapehu, so they were just exploring the South Island before their jobs started. It was so funny to have run into them on the same day, in the same place, on the same track--small world!

We enjoyed the rest of the tramp as well--making time, this go around, to do all the little side tracks down to the beaches and coves. Some of them were really neat. 

Towards the end of the walk we did a little side track that had a steep incline down the hill into the cove. It was a very tiring walk back up, as we were almost to the end and this was the most strenuous part of the whole thing! But, it was worth a visit.

 

We made it to our pick-up point, Anchorage Bay, just in time! We were actually about 15 minutes early, but right as we got to the beach we could see our boat in the distance entering at the mouth of the cove. No waiting an hour this time! 

We got right on and enjoyed the sun and breeze from the top deck. 

The boat dropped us off at a little beach called Coquille Bay, as it was low tide and it was the closest point to the start of the track that they could get without getting stuck on the sand. However, since it was low tide we were able to walk along the coastline and take the scenic route back to the car park rather than take the track. It was nice walking along the sand right around golden hour. 

We got back to the car with no problems and headed back to our warm, comfy bed that awaited us back in Nelson!