We walked from Hackett Hut down a very well maintained trail to a car park. We hadn't realised just how "in the middle of nowhere" this car park was going to be. How on earth were we going to get a ride? We stood there for about 5 minutes debating... there was a Gardner weed whacking the car park... maybe he could give us a ride to the highway? No- he did one better. Actually a thousand times better! Thankfully we had run into someone who actually lived right next to the Abel Tasman walkway-what a stroke of luck! He offered us a ride just as soon as he was done with his job.
Once we were all sandwiched in (myself with two of the friendliest Labradors in the backseat) we hit the road. Stopping by a grocery store, then heading into town. It took over two hours to drive up some very small country roads to get to Kaiteriteri. We had really lucked out, this would have been a difficult hitch otherwise. On the way up, our new friend told us a little about himself; he had been the leading detective for the South Island. Handling all kinds of cases from murder to drug trafficking. Now that he was "retired" he decided to do what he loved best which was working outside, maintaining the national parks and also working in pest control for the possums and rats. New Zealand has no predators to take care of these creatures so they overpopulate and become a terrible nuisance. The country employs many people to lay traps every 100 meters on trails, they also drop 1080 poison from the air (which is highly controversial) Unfortunately they can't introduce any predators to take care of the rodents because those same predators would affect their rare flightless bird population. Cody and myself can't stand the poisons and traps, but it's all apart of hiking in New Zealand. We're just glad to be able to go home to a country that has a healthy predator population.
We were taken as far as Kaiteriteri Beach which was just below the start of the Abel Tasman Track. Once there, the rain started settling in so we hunkered down in Bethany Campground gorging ourselves on burgers and real fruit ice cream and waiting for the weather to clear. We watched the spot tracks of our fellow TA hikers who were hiking in the Richmond Ranges. They had obviously stopped for the day to wait out bad weather. No fun, we were glad to be off the trail. Here is our spot track: http://mrcocard.followmyspot.com/jaz-and-cody-new-zealand
Abel Tasman was not a track to be hiked in the rain. It was known for being incredibly beautiful, and we wanted to enjoy it in the sunshine. So we stayed two nights in camp January 31st-February 1st. and then head out with the sunshine.
February 1st: Boat ride to Totaranui (top of Abel Tasman)
Our plan was to take a ferry ride up the coast to the top of the 36km trail, then walk back down to Kaiteriteri from there. The whole walk would take 1 and 1/2 days. It had to be timed out because of high tides affecting the trail. This meant that we took the later ferry, which was good because the remaining clouds cleared for our boat ride.
On the ride we stopped by Split Apple rock
Saw Fur Seals
...and more beautiful views of the shore we were about to walk on.
The sand was a beautiful rich gold color because of rusting iron deposits.
The walk was absolutely stunning! I can't really describe it in words so I'll show you through pictures. Although I will say one thing, it's really nice to walk through jungle when it's not overgrown on the trails. We had a whole different experience walking amongst dense bush and not fighting our way through it. No mud, no steep climbs, just easy walking and incredible beauty around us. It was a nice change from the TA.
Wide path=happiness. Glad not to be fighting nature for a change
We stayed at bark bay campsite, which was pretty crowded but not overly so. We slept right next to the ocean and enjoyed what Cody called a "romantic beach" setting. The moon was bright and glittering on the water, the waves were small, and there was no wind! This was our first really nice beach experience, I was in heaven...right up until Cody woke up with a mouse on his head!
How on earth had he gotten in? We searched all around the tent but couldn't find the hole. And what did he want since there was no food in the tent? Damn. It was almost perfect. I fell back asleep after we let the jumping mouse out the screen door. It wasn't long after and that darn mouse had somehow let himself back in and was back by Cody's head. That was it! Time to find that hole. Cody was determined so we emptied the tent at 5 am and flipped it over. And there it was, on the bottom of the tent! He had tunnelled his way in. What a stealthy little guy! After patching it up with duct tape we fell back asleep to peaceful waves and the sound of mice digging through other peoples food bags. Thankfully we were left alone the rest of the night.
February 2nd: Bark Bay and back to Kaiteriteri
The remainder of the hike was beautiful, and mouse free. None of our stuff had been damaged except for the small hole in the tent. Both of us were keen on getting back to Kaiteriteri before our favourite burger place closed (Gone Burgers) they really were amazing and moderately priced; we had already eaten there 3 times in a row!
More beautiful views from the walk...
And back to Gone Burgers! We were lucky enough to get a hitch right at the trail head and made before they closed.
We decided to stay another night in Kaiteriteri then hitch back to the TA trail at St. Arnaud. It was probably going to be an all day affair as it was a long way to hitch back to a very remote area. Wish us luck!
Hey Cody and Jazz!!! Nice to hear that you enjoyed Abel Tasman. I can tell you about mice...especially in the huts in the Richmond Range. OMG....they got through my food bag and ate some of my valuable soy. Damn suckers, but they are cute. Hopefully we will catch you soon.
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Haha yes the mini bears! They are horrible. We are leaving Hanmer today hope to see you at some point on the trail
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