Cannelle has said that I forget to mention the little small things that
make the trip funny on this blog. Maybe. Resolved to keep a small
diary again as I have been writing this from my memory as I have been
travelling and so sometimes I forget the small things. After all its
the small things in life that apparently make it worth living. Been
looking at that with regards to Australia. Just planned out a 3 week
road trip round the outback, Kimberley, NT and South Australia. Should
be fucking awesome. Queensland on the other hand looks overrated and
just having seen the photos from Cannelle's sister from the Whitsundays
it looks nice but maybe not even on par with the Philippines and when I
am not a beach man why the hell would I head up there for the price it
is going to cost us. Talk about burning through money. Anyway I
digress.
Tom picked us up from the bus station in Nelson and took us for a drive
and tour of Nelson. Looks like a pleasant city and apparently it has
the sunniest weather in NZ, which given the fact that we are now in the
middle of seemingly 2 weeks of non stop rain, it is very much
appreciated in hindsight. We got lucky in the South Island for
weather. We didn't get that extension on the North island. We went
back to his place which is really impressive. His dad built it himself
and its a really nice house. There we did some catching up, Tom cooked
us a Chilean mixed grill style dish and we poured over maps of the
Amazon as he was just about to head off on his latest Amazon trip. We
kicked back with some beers and reminisced about the old times.
The next morning we set off for Nelson Lakes NP which was cool as I had
wanted to go there. It was only an hours drive and then we set off to
walk around the lake. We ended up taking the longer route that turned
it into a good 30km round hike. Nice warm up for Abel Tasman. They
have a lot of fresh water eels in the lake and it was cool to see them.
The lake is a nice alpine lake and very pleasant. Not unmissable, but
good for a nice day or two of hiking. We didn't meet many people on the
loop and the end part down the valley was our first real off track
hiking with just the orange markers to point us in the right direction.
If you feel like getting out into some peaceful wilderness then I would
recommend it. By the end Tom was a little knackered and Cannelle was
feeling tired. The last 4km on the road we managed to grab a ride from
an Israeli couple whose bed we climbed on to lie down while they drove
us to a fish and chip shop. They had said they loved China (which made
Cannelle feel good) and had said that Abel Tasman was nice, but after
you've been to the Philippines then beaches elsewhere aren't very good.
Its how I feel and a major reason why I can't be arsed to go to
Queensland. How do you top the Philippines? You probably can't. We
grabbed the car and drove back home and Tom was tired so he made me take
the wheel while he drove. Weird as I haven't steered a car for ages. I
still prefer a scooter. When we got back we watched Captain Phillips.
It had no subtitles for the Somalis but neither did the version in the
fish and chip shop in Kaikoura so maybe its not supposed to. It was
good to catch up with Tom and a nice two days as he showed us the bike
tracks he had built in his back garden and the cycling video he had been
editing over the previous couple of months. His Spanish and Portuguese
are really good now and I was a little jealous. I really need to
improve mine and work on it.
In the morning he gave us one final spin around town and we got our
shopping for the Abel Tasman hike. We took the bus to Motueka and
walked ages to our hostel. Nice place. Not much to do here. We went
out for some food and then chilled in the hostel. In the evening I went
for a night time walk to find a pie and eating the pie while walking
under the stars I realised that I was really, truly happy. Lucky life I
have.
In the morning we grabbed our bus to the park entrance and took the
aquataxi up to Totaranui. I had wanted to see split apple rock after
the hike and head to separation point on the first day, but the aquataxi
ride killed two birds with one stone. It stopped close to split apple
rock to get some photos and then visited Tonga Island on the way north
to see the seals. Oh well. Easier than I imagined. The aquataxi ride
is cool, because you get to see the park from the water before hiking
back. We thought this might ruin the experience but it really doesn't
as its very different from the land. We were dropped in Totaranui
around 1pm and the tidal crossing at Awaroa wasn't possible until at
least 3pm so we were left to kick our heels as it was only 5.5km. We
had decided against doing the rest of the northern part and an Austrian
girl later told us that its the same but more rugged. The first day's
walking was really boring apart from the rust coloured sand which was
unique. We were apprehensive about the rest. When we got to Awaroa it
was just after 3pm and we attempted the crossing. We got halfway before
realising we were going to have to remove our boots and wade which came
to around our knee. Apparently its impossible to get across without
wading as it is still a river inside a tidal estuary. This was fun and
we left our socks on so as not to get cut up on all the shells. Took us
a good 20-30 minutes to get across. Once across we went on a hike to
find the restaurant about 2km away but its very overpriced, was
disappointing and let to an argument. The walk round there is quite
nice though and leads past sand dunes, houses and crosses a couple of
rivers. We got chatting with an American and an Austrian girl in the
evening. There was a big group of Kiwis who monopolised the hut and
were quite annoying. The ranger told us that this hut is completely cut
off and landlocked during high tide. He told us that some people had
even tried to cross it at 10pm at night having not read the notices. At
high tide its 3m deep in the middle and they were freezing and wading
in the middle of the tidal waters. Idiots. Some people never learn no
matter what is written.
The next morning we set off early to make sure we would have no problems
with the tide. We kept trying to anticipate where Daniel had taken the
photo that is hanging on his lounge wall. Its very beautiful and we
didn't want to miss it. Not long out of the camp we came cross the
ranger and a friend of his behind a quad bike. Curious. They seemed a
little embarrassed to see us. When I walked closer I could see a dead
deer next to them. They had shot it because it was on national park
land. They apologised to me, but I said not to worry as I would be a
hypocrite given how much I like venison. They asked for some help
lifting it, which was weird as I held the antlers and helped lift it
onto the quad. Weird start. The first half of the day saw us walk to
Bark Bay. Its a nice walk but we weren't blown away by much. Its
around Bark Bay that it becomes very beautiful. We had also got lucky
because the weather the day before had been cloudy and the day after was
as well. This day was glorious however and it was the day where we
would do the most beautiful part of the walk. The part from Bark Bay
over to Anchorage is the prettiest part of the walk. We got the
viewpoint we had been waiting for when we got close to Torrent Bay. We
saw some little spiders and a lot of birds, including the wood pigeon.
The tidal path was closed at Torrent Bay so we did the long 5km detour
to get round to Anchorage. I took the side trip to Cleopatra's Pool
(not worth it) and we eventually made it onto the beautiful beach of
Anchorage. 27km of walking and it was a really nice part of the park.
Cannelle loved it. I thought it was really nice. I would say that if
you are pushed for time then you should just do the Awaroa to Anchorage
part as the rest of the walk is pretty boring or average. That way you
would see the best of the park. In the evening there was a very fat guy
in our room and he snored so loudly that everyone else left the ranger
hut to sleep outside. It wasn't that bad. In fact the German guy who
left due to the snoring was snoring so much worse the night before.
When we woke up it was just Cannelle and I, as the other two had left
early. My sleeping bag was killing me. Being thermal it was far too
hot for where we were.
In the morning we were up early and did the last 12km out of the park to
Marahau. The fact that this took us just over 2 hours will show you
how boring the last part of the walk was. Might as well take a water
taxi out if you have the money. We were out early and got some hot food
at last in the extortionate cafe next to the entrance. Then we got a
ride back to Motueka and did nothing as we just finished off the
hiking. One more great walk to go. Everyone had told us that Abel
Tasman was the best. I disagree. Its a nice walk. Its on a par with
the Kepler. The Routeburn is miles ahead of the other two from the two
we have done.
In the morning we had to grab an early bus to Nelson (waiting for an
hour) and another bus to Blenheim (2 hour wait). Blenheim looks like an
ultra boring place. How on earth the Israelis can work there I don't
know. I am still really happy that we took our working holiday visa in
Australia and not New Zealand. Eventually we got to Kaikoura and the
weather was a bit shitty with tons of mist. We decided to go and get
some fish and chips from the apparently second best in NZ (more on that
later) and then just chilled out in the hot tub of our hostel. We had
decided after a lot of back and forth not to do a whale watching tour
and just go to see the seals.
The next day we went to town for lunch and nothing was open so we went
to the fish and chip shop next door to the other one. His was better
and he told us that the other fish and chip shop had come second ina
survey done by the kiwi explorer bus. Far be it for me to disparage
reviews conducted by 18 year old morons from my country, but the fact
that this survey only includes one fish and chip shop per town (hardly
fair) and only the ones the bus visits, I think its hard to take it
seriously. If you are in Kaikoura skip the surly bullshit from this
self proclaimed great fish and chip shop and go next door for a nice
chat with the owner of the other shop. We chatted with him for a couple
of hours about the ridiculous monopolies on crayfish and whale watching
in the town. He said how he wanted to open a burger bar and we ended
up talking about making a crayfish sandwich for $15. I think its a
winner and if you go to Kaikoura and see a shop selling $15 crayfish
sandwiches then let me know, say hey to the owner and know we helped
inspire it. He even told us about an Italian fishing ship that had
strapped a jet engine onto itself to escape pirates. Interesting guy.
After that we walked to the seal colony, but you can't really see any
seals as they are too far out. Shame really. We saw a few basking
close by and got surprised when one almost came out of a bush right next
to us. Shit. Made me jump. It was still grey and misty. I am no
sure it is worth visiting if you don't plan on seeing the whales but we
had a nice couple of days there. Onwards to the north island.
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