I haven’t been up to too much since my arrival here in Golden Bay–pretty much just hanging out around the hostel and helping the new owners figure out what to do with their website. This morning I took a wander around town and spent some time in the museum–which chronicles the arrival of Abel Tasman in the area in the mid-1600s and the nice welcome that the Maori gave him, various industries of the area, and plant and animal life and rocks from the region. It was free to go in but they request a donation, and I definitely think it was worth a look around, if only for the amazing collection of shells and rocks they showcase.

Yes, I know, it sounds like I’m being a bit lazy, which I am a bit. I’m enjoying the things you don’t appreciate until you don’t have them for a few days, like fresh bread, non-dehydrated food, and a real pillow & mattress. A couple people in the hostel and I have planned to check out some of the area this afternoon though, so we’ll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I’ve uploaded some more pictures from Abel Tasman National Park and Golden Bay, along with some of the many seal videos I took while swimming with them off Tonga Island a few days ago. I’ve embedded them in this post, but if you’re having trouble, they are also available on my videos page and on YouTube.

I (kind of) finished the Abel Tasman Coastal Track today. It’s supposed to be a 3-5 day walk that I decided to do in 5 just so I could spend a lot of time relaxing on the golden beaches. However, I didn’t quite finish the entire 51kms of walking due to quite a few reasons. I’m sure everyone has been waiting for this one, thinking, “Wow, Kristin’s been in New Zealand for nearly 3 weeks now and she hasn’t seriously hurt herself. What’s going on here?” On the second day of the walk–between Anchorage and Bark Bay campsites–I took a short side track to Cleopatra’s pools, which are nice, cold pools in a sunny clearing in the forest. You have to cross a river to get to these pools. I attempted to do so, but unfortunately only made it halfway across the river before I completely ate it, skinning my shin and creating a rather massive lump on it as well as smacking my (good) ankle really well on another rock. It wasn’t a serious injury–and plus, there was a physical therapist behind me to inspect the damage–but the fact that my bag was probably 40lbs really didn’t help it feel any better. I ended up taking a water taxi the next day from Bark Bay–where I really wouldn’t have minded staying, just like every other beach in the park–to Awaroa Lodge, which cut off about 3 hours of walking. That boat ride led to a little adventure in itself, since the lodge is a 20 minute walk from the DOC Hut where I was staying…at low tide. I arrived right at the peak of high tide, meaning that I couldn’t cross the creek between the Lodge and the Hut, so I ended up having to walk uphill, over a saddle, back downhill, and around a large section of beach before I got to the hut…meaning I walked for 2 hours and didn’t quite rest up my ankle as much as I would have liked.

Awaroa Hut, where I stayed last night, is in an interesting location. It sits on the shores of the Awaroa Inlet, which is a tidal estuary & river combined. When the tide is in, the water laps at the shore just underneath the Hut, but when the tide is out, the water is only ankle-deep in the middle of the river. The track goes straight across the inlet, so walkers have to time their crossing to be within 2 hours of low tide, or else they get stuck. The few of us that stayed at the hut (about 10 of the 28 beds were used) were very amused yesterday by the impatient people that ended up carrying their bags over their heads after they tried to cross too early…but we also didn’t want to end up like that, so we were all up at 5.30am getting ready for low tide, which was at 6.17. Another reason that we were awake was because of the constant drumming of rain on the roof of the hut; it probably wasn’t the noise bothering us as much as the memory of the sign in the hut that said “In heavy rain, the inlet may not be crossable even at low tide.” We stood in front of the hut until about 7.30 trying to decide whether the water was far enough down to be manageable–not only height-wise but current-wise–before the vast majority decided to turn around and head back to Awaroa Lodge and catch a water taxi. I figured I would check out the crossing and turn around if it looked too high, so I headed out and found that the water was only calf-deep in the very middle of the river.

The walk from the crossing was only about 1-1 1/4 hours, but it felt like much, much longer. Rain was bucketing down–fortunately I had my raincoat and Tiffany’s amazing backpack cover, which kept my pack completely dry–and I was only wearing my flipflops even though I was walking up decent inclines/declines. I’m glad I wore them, since my boots would have been completely waterlogged and would have sunk straight into the sand on the two beaches I had to walk on for over 1km of the 5.5 covered this morning, but they weren’t the ideal footwear!

I could still tell from the views I got that the coastline was amazing and unparalleled by nearly every other beach I’d ever seen…when the sun’s out. It had an eerie feel to it this morning, with clouds floating over the hills in the distance and the complete lack of people. 2 people from the campsite crossed the Awaroa Inlet with me and then pulled ahead; they were the only 2 sets of footprints on the beach when I got there. I don’t know if any others followed–they only had about half an hour before the tide got too high–but it definitely felt very lonesome. When I finally reached Totaranui, a campground with 850 spots that has a long, winding road into it that a bus services, I decided that was it. I didn’t want to slog it out for another 3 hours to get to the hut when the forecast for tomorrow called for more of the same. Perhaps if it was going to be sunny I would have headed up there so tomorrow I could see what the coastline really should look like…but it wasn’t and I had no motivation left, what with the rain pouring down my face and the dull ache in my ankle.

That said, just like the Queen Charlotte Track, I think the Abel Tasman is well worth walking, especially the later parts where there are less people. Some of the earlier sections of the track–notably between Torrent Bay and Bark Bay–get irritatingly crowded, as I found out when over 120 people passed me going in the opposite direction. I often had to stop on this section and let the hordes through since my bag was too big to let us pass while walking. One extremely careless couple decided to start walking across a long swing bridge while I was in the middle, so we ended up having to do this little dance for about 5 minutes while we tried to maneuver around each other without falling into the river below.

Click the links to view my pictures from Abel Tasman National Park and some extras I added of Marahau and Old MacDonald’s Farm (the hostel/campsite I stayed in in Marahau, complete with llamas!). I forgot to bring my small camera to the internet cafe, so there’s just a taste of pictures of the park, but I’ll try to remember it the next time I get on the computer

So in conclusion, here are some random facts I learned on the Abel Tasman:

• People that camp with 6 month old babies are the most selfish people on earth. Apparently the couple in my campsite the first night felt that their child waking them up at 3am wasn’t enough, so they took her to a 50-site campground and let her wake up the entire campsite while she screamed for hours in the middle of the night.
• All of the Americans in New Zealand are hiding in the park, doing day trips. In the rest of New Zealand, I’ve met a total of 5 Americans. In the park, I met 3 separate couples from Colorado, a couple from North Carolina, a couple from Georgia, a couple from Wisconsin, and a man from New York.
• Israelis like to play a card game called Yanniv, which is pretty fun but I still lost spectacularly at.
• Dehydrated food isn’t half bad (as long as it isn’t sweet and sour lamb). I had some pretty good concoctions on the trail that required minimal effort and even less weight to carry, but I have to say I was very happy to come back to town and eat some hot fish & chips.
• My tent may or may not be waterproof. I didn’t like the fact that there was a light dew and the inside of the tent walls were damp!

I went on a seal swim today in the Abel Tasman, and it was, well…wow. It was a much different experience to the dolphin swim, because the seals are much more playful and much more nonchalant about the whole thing…they just float upside down and let you swim right next to them. One even brushed against me as it swam away! Plus, the guide was much more eccentric (but in a good way) than the dolphin swim guide. He had us all singing “pirate ditties” he’d made up about the Abel Tasman, so he definitely kept us all entertained!

Anyway, only 5 minutes of internet time remaining, so I’ll have to leave the remaining descriptions until later. You’ll just have to put up with the seal pictures I managed to upload in my 20 minutes of internet time Enjoy!

I think the centres of New Zealand and United States really reflect the mentality of the countries as a whole. To get to the monument marking the centre of New Zealand, you have to “tramp” for 45 minutes-1 hour up a relatively steep path; to get to the center of the United States–which if you only count the continental 48 states is Lebanon, Kansas–you just drive there (if you’re really interested in seeing corn fields and pig farms, that is). I just found the contrast a bit amusing as I was walking up the path to the Centre of NZ monument being constantly passed by much more energetic runners and mountain bikers.

That said, I think the walk was terrific. Getting to the start proved to take longer than I expected, since I walked past the “Founders Heritage Park” and spent $5 to go in and see what it was all about. The entire park–consisting of 30+ buildings–was either the originals or replicas of the original buildings in Nelson. They had the first bank, fire station, church, etc. It was all pretty interesting and gave a bit of insight into colonial Nelson. I thought the interesting conversation I had with the jade carver (they have real businesses inside some of the buildings, including a child care centre, a primary school, jade carving, and a brewery) was worth the $5 alone. It was definitely something different, and it meant I didn’t feel nearly as bad about missing the opening hours of the Nelson museum!

On the way to the Centre of NZ, I got some absolutely fantastic views of Nelson and the entire coast stretching up through Abel Tasman National Park. To top that off, there are some stunning mountain ranges behind Nelson–the top of the Southern Alps, I think?–that provide an amazing backdrop. People have said that seeing a sunset from along the walk is stunning, but I won’t be seeing that since I don’t particularly fancy walking back in the dark!

I continued on the path after stopping at the monument (and nearly getting blown off the viewpoint) and ended up on Hardy St, which runs back into the centre of Nelson. On the way, I saw the Queen’s Gardens and wandered in for a look. They were a nice, relaxing place, with a bit of swampy river area (with approximately 1,000,000 ducks living in it) and a few flowers. It’d be a nice place to just go read a book/study/do work for the afternoon.

I was finally able to resize pictures so they uploaded in a reasonable time, so I’ve posted a fair number of Nelson photos here.

Just a quick update, since not a whole lot has happened since I last posted. I’ve been in the internet cafe for a good hour now trying to transfer my photos to the computer so I can then burn a DVD backup of them…so I’ve had a bit of time to upload photos. I started at the beginning of the trip–since those were the ones I transferred over first. So, without further ado, you can check out my many shots of Christchurch (the first place I went in NZ) here.

Apparently today is “Anniversary Day” in Nelson, which celebrates the founding of the province but in reality means that a lot of shops/post offices/banks are closed. No worries though, since I’ll be here tomorrow and can use the post office then.

The drive to Nelson was pretty uneventful, as all good bus rides should be (even those that only cost $1!). We passed through Blenheim, which is the heart of the Marlborough wine country. We went past so many vineyards and signs advertising wineries that I completely lost count. It would have been a nice place to stop, if I wasn’t on a backpackers’ budget!

From there we went through Havelock, a tiny town at the base of the sounds. The town of 530 people is famous for its greenshell mussels, which I got to try at the Hopewell Mussel Party. Once we reached the forested Rai Valley just on the other side of town, the clouds that had been hanging pretty low all morning started to clear up. By the time we arrived in Nelson, the sky was clear and the sun was back to doing its best to burn everyone in sight.

I’ve had a bit of a walk around Nelson and I really like it; it’s no wonder that it was voted one of New Zealand’s “most livable cities.” It’s not too big, but it’s got all the shops you need–which in my case is pretty much a bakery, a grocery store, a sports shop that sells dehydrated trail food, and an internet cafe. They also have a cathedral in the center of town–with the very original name of “Christ Church Cathedral.” It’s quite a nice building with gardens and shaded pathways surrounding it, but I didn’t actually go inside due to the mandatory donation.

I’ll probably spend the rest of today and tomorrow exploring Nelson, and then I’m departing on Wednesday morning (Waitangi Day, New Zealand’s national holiday) to go see the Abel Tasman and hopefully some seals!

Also, I’ve held to my promise (kind of). I’ve managed to upload a whopping 9 photos so far of Picton/Bob’s Bay/Ship Cove/the Queen Charlotte Track. Check out my Picton pictures here and my Queen Charlotte Track pictures here.

I’m back in Picton again, but this time with a much larger sense of achievement, since I finished the 71km (~44 mile) Queen Charlotte Track! I got back to the track after a short water taxi ride across from Hopewell, and it took me about 3 1/2 hours to lug my massive pack the 12kms left between Te Mahia Saddle and Anakiwa. The walk was really quite easy today, since it was all small up-and-down gradients, as opposed to the steepness I’ve gotten used to over the previous 3 1/2 days of the track.

I just have to say again that the Queen Charlotte was wonderful, and well worth the few blisters I acquired in the process. It’s definitely got a different atmosphere from any other track, what with the daypack transfers and the resorts/hostels along the way.

 Also, Hopewell was an absolutely lovely place to visit and I think everyone I met there was sad that they eventually had to leave. Even though yesterday was a bit of a dreary day, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself doing (nearly) nothing. I wrote in my journal, laid in the hammock, and learned how to play triominos, which I was pretty good at without having much of a strategy at all! Yesterday evening the hosts, Lynley and Mike, had a “Mussel Party,” where we got to eat all the steamed green mussels we wanted (which is what Kenepuru Sound is famous for), plus fried oysters, oysters cooked in ginger & soy sauce, and loads of fresh chips. It was a great meal that I topped off with some of their delicious gourmet pizza. So…any good I did for my body on the Queen Charlotte was immediately negated by my gorging on seafood & pizza, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Tomorrow I’m catching a 9am bus to Nelson (check out my updated map to see where that is…I’ve marked my current location with a yellow pin). It should be interesting, as I got the fare from NakedBus.com for a whopping $1NZ. I’m hoping the bus shows up in one piece. And no, I don’t have to be naked to ride the bus, as people have already asked me. It’s just a budget bus line that runs around the South Island.

I feel like I’m constantly promising this, but pictures will be appearing shortly. The computer I’m currently on (in one of the only internet cafes in Picton) is set up so anything plugged in (like flash drives) can’t actually be accessed, so I can’t upload anything today. Nelson’s a much bigger town though, so I’m sure there will be a load of cafes to choose from there (if I take enough time out from exploring the city!).

Just a quick update, since I’ve only got a couple minutes left before I promised the computer to someone else. The weather has been great here for the last couple days, and I’ve just relaxed and enjoyed it. Yesterday I went for a leisurely kayak out in the bay, went swimming, then laid in a hammock for the rest of the afternoon…and had a soak in the spa before I went to bed. This really is the life! Today it dawned very overcast, so I’ve been lounging about indoors and thoroughly enjoying it.

Tomorrow I’m heading back onto the Queen Charlotte Track, and from there I’m going over to Nelson and the Abel Tasman National Park. You can check out my New Zealand map to get an idea for where this is–to the west of where I am now, essentially–but unfortunately I haven’t been able to update it on this connection so you can actually see my path onwards from here.

The clouds are starting to clear so I’m now going to head back outside with my journal and a good book!