Abel Tasman

I'm back! Classes have started and they are all pretty awesome. Except I think I need to pick up on more class. But that's neither here nor there. The big thing that has happened was our trip to the south island last week. We did it as cheap as we could so it brought up many troubles that proved to be a lot of fun. So the story begins.

We had an idea to go on a trip the week before classes started and everything we had planned fell through or was too expensive. The problem with traveling in NZ is that it is expensive because you need to take buses everywhere and pay for the camping sites and such. But after all previous trip ideas failing, George, Sam, Dave, and I decided to just pack up and go to the south island. No plans, no idea of what to do except camp and hike. So we packed our bags for 4 days of hiking, jumped on the ferry to go to the south island, and started our adventure.

We got off the ferry in the town of Picton where we caught a 3 hour bus ride to the town of Nelson. Now we were suppose to catch the next bus to Marahau to start our hike but that left before our bus in got to Nelson. So we had to spend the night in Nelson. We had a map and on the map we saw which campsite to go to but we had a whole day to hang out before we would go to the campsite... bad idea. On the bus, we were talking about food and that is when George realized that he had forgot the stove and pans. So in Nelson we had to stock up on what we could carry/ live off of for the next 3 nights. And we didn't have a tent because they were too expensive so we bought blue tarps for each ourselves. After we stocked up with blue tarps, twine, apples, trail mix, and matches, we went to explore. As we were exploring the beaches we began to get hungry so we stopped at this little pizza place that was ok, nothing great, then we stopped at a liquor store to stock up on the important stuff. And at this point it was dark and time to find our campsite. But lucky for us as we were walking, it started to pour. Luckily we bought trash bags so after we were soaked, we got under a tree and put trash bags over our packs to waterproof them. We ended up getting lost for 15 minutes but finally came across our campsite where we were planning on building our tent with blue tarp and twine, in the rain. Thank god it was only 3 dollars more to stay in a cabin so we did that instead. We got beds, pillows, a TV, and dry shelter. It was amazing because it allowed us to let everything dry, repack our bags, and relax about it. Oh and we could shower so it was a good night.

The next morning we got at it and had our last real meal at the McDonald's for breakfast. Now we got to hop on the bus to Marahua which was another 2 hours long. But we finally made it to our destination and from there we decided our plans for the next 3 days. We were going to hike to Bark's Bay which was a SEVEN HOUR hike and then camp there. Then the next day we would get up and hike back 4 hours to watering cove, stay the night there, then make the 3 hour hike back by 12:45 and catch the bus back home. The first hike was incredible yet unincredible. The views and the scenery was amazing because we would be hiking on the coast overlooking the ocean then we would take a corner and be in a legit jungle. But I had a lot of stuff on my back (food, tarp, sleeping bag, beer, vodka, etc.) and walking up mountains for 7 hours takes a toll. But after some detours, rest stops, and picture spots we arrived at the bay in time to still have sunlight and set up our tent. It was pretty ghetto but we did it and it kept us dry so we were happy. We ate our cookies and power bars and drank some while fishing on a rock that night. Oh ya in Nelson when we had to sleep there, we decided to get little hand fishing rods (little wooden dowels with green yarn and a hook) and some bait. We knew it was a lost cause but it was fun. After our binding time we went to sleep, not a very comfortable slumber, but a slumber nonetheless. A side note that I forgot to mention was that for dinner, we planned on being able to make a fire and cook something somehow but when we got to the trail, there was a fire bad because of the weather so no fires for us. And to top things off, we also didn't have a map to go along with our no stove, no tent, no food...

The night went on with a scare from a possum going through our stuff and we had to scare it off. But other than that it was uneventful. We woke up to big, dark rain clouds so it forced us to put a little hop in our step and get moving before we got rained on. The rain luckily never came but it made us more prepared, i.e. putting our rain jackets on the top of our bags. We had to get out of there by ten because we had to make it to the low tide track on time. This low tide track took an hour off the walk, but like it sounds, it had to be low tide to take it. The tide here rises and falls about every 5 hours we decided and it rises about .5- 1 meter tall so its quite the change. We got to the crossing a little early so we took that time to rest, throw on a bathing suits, do some drinking, fishing, and swimming. It was a good break and we actually almost caught a fish. They were just too small, but they loved the bait and were nipping at it constantly. After the tide went down some more, we got dressed and left. Funny side story was that coming to the bay the first day, we took the same crossing but still had to take our shoes off because there were still some big rivers that we couldn't jump over. But this time, the rivers were still there but we didn't want to take off our shoes so we kept looking for branches and such to use as bridges. We succeeded until the last big river where we almost took off our shoes. But at that moment, an Australian guy who was camping next to us saw us and asked if we needed help. He ended up carrying all of us across the river on his shoulders. It was a lot of fun. But we soon got to Watering Cove.

We were hoping for a campsite that had a handful of people, and trees so we could string up our tent. This site had no one there (which would be awesome if we had our own stove) and it had no trees. and it had no drinkable water. All the water had to be treated or boiled... So after we settled in, we went for an hour hike to the next site to get some water while one of the guys stayed back and built the tent. The tent/ structure ended up working out really well for us and we got it done early. So we decided to do some fishing. after an hour, I end up catching two fish (about 7 inch Snappers) and it made our day. We were all so excited and it took the depression out. And as we started fishing, a German couple got there and said they would lend us their stove. Also at the last site we saw a couple cook mussels in a pot so we wanted some too. We went out swimming and gathered a bag full of fresh mussels. We filleted the fish and cooked the mussels that night. We went from starving and surviving on bread and power bars to having freshly caught mussels and fish on a beach in New Zealand. It was a great night. We went to bed full and happy. That was our night.

We woke up a little late but still got out of there in good timing. We took our time walking back and we made it in time to catch the next bus and get a good meal in the town. We slept on the way back and at around 9:30 pm, we got home. All in all, the trip didn't go as planned, but that is what made it so much fun. It was also great because I didn't get sunburned because of my awesome hat! And that was our Abel Tasman trip.