It's been a little while, but I finally have all of the necessary things to write another blog entry: time, Internet, and story. We will of course start off with another kiwi vocab lesson:
- Sultana - raisin (I looked this up n Wikipedia, and it's actually a specific strain of grapes, but here people call all raisins 'sultana'.
- Mozzies - mosquitoes.
We spent a pretty chill week in Auckland where we came to cheer Steve on for his Half Iron Man, which he finished with a PB time (that's personal best, not peanut butter everyone). We also had some car trouble which kept us in town an extra couple of days, but finally we left for the south island. My favorite part of our ride down was Wellington. There is just something nice about that city, it has a very cool vibe and Mike and I will both be spending a little more time there on our way back up north.
On the road we started discussing the things that we love/hate/didn't expect from our trip so far and this is the list for me:
- I miss order - most of the days we get up, eat and trow all of our possessions into the car. We try organizing, but don't succeed very well. We are always rushed to leave, because check-out is always at 10. I can never find what I need right away. I miss knowing where things are.
- In a way, there is less personal freedom and personal space - We are always together. We drive together, sleep together, do everything together. I don't have the luxury or just deciding to go to the bathroom and not having to notify Mike about it. We suspected that this would happen, so we mitigate it by having separate days when we get to a town and can split up, but it's not the same. We don't have our own space to crawl into and be alone. It's tough, but I also think it's good for us to discuss and keep working on
- I love being outdoors all the time. Mike doesn't think that this is true, because I also go into the tent as soon as it's ready, but usually it's not set up until at least 7pm and it's getting cold, and the mozzies and sand flies are feasting on me.
- My body feels better than it has in a while. I can feel getting stronger. Every week I can do more things. I have muscle pain, but not the chronic hip/back pain that I have a lot in the US. I think this is due to the fact that I am not slouching at a desk for at least 8 hours a day, I'm not wearing heels, and I'm making my back muscles stronger by hiking up and down hills with a full backpack.
We did our second Great Walk this past week. It was the Abel Tasman Track, known for it's beautiful beaches and clear blue water. Olichka and Steve came to join us for this, and it was Steve's first backpacking trip - which he ended up liking a lot (unless he is a fantastic liar)
We rented a tandem kayak for the first three days and the original idea was to switch off during lunch, but it didn't quite work out that way. As usual Mike and I were late checking out of our campsite so we didn't get started on our walk until about 1 pm. Once we did get started, we couldn't really enjoy anything because we were in such a hurry to reach our meet-up with Steve and Olichka. I was feeling a little out of it and actually couldn't wait for a break. We finally passed the last point prior to our destination and I told myself that maybe in another 10-15 minutes I will finally be able to put the back-pack down, but we just kept walking. I thought that maybe, since I'm tired time is just moving very very slowly for me, but pretty soon both Mike and I started talking about the fact that our turn-off should already be there. We even stopped along the way so that Mike could explore an unmarked path, but it didn't really lead anywhere productive. Finally, we saw a sign that the place that WE WERE GOING TO CAMP AT THAT NIGHT was only 35 minutes away. We rushed there and wolfed down a quick lunch after which Mike went to try to find Steve and Olichka.
What happened was that our lunch destination was one of 2 campsites that were only accessible by kayak!! Thankfully Steve and Olichka decided to leave us a message in the sand and proceed to the campground as well. At the end of the day we were all together, and all very tired. The sea was very choppy that day, so Steve and Olichka were also looking forward to a break and to giving us the kayak for the remainder of the day. Dinner was eaten very heartily that night :). It was a rough start, but we decided to be smarter on the next day and not bother meeting for lunch. Mike and I would take the kayak and we would meet up at Bark Bay at night, so that we could ferry over to the Mosquito Bay campground (also available by kayak only).
The next day I woke up to hear a Russian couple arguing next to our tent. Winning phrase came from a woman who said that her shoulders hurt from kayaking "kak tupym serpom po yaitsem" (roughly translated as "like cutting balls off with a rusty sickle". Russians FTW!!!! After a wake-up like that I was ready to go so we all started on our journeys at the same time (Olichka and Steve on foot, and Mike and I on kayak). Mike wanted to make a little detour so we doubled back to a bay he visited the night before on his search for our friends and took pictures of a rock that looked like a kiwi with it's beak in the ground. Once the pictures were taken we went to the true destination of the kayak trip, Pinnacle Island, known for it's seals. It felt to me like it took us forever to get to the island, but I instantly got all of my strength back once I saw the first seal! He was swimming about 20 feet from us and then swam up to a second seal at which point they started frolicking in the water and flapping their fins at us as if they were waving. It was really amazing! They looked so happy and didn't mind our presence at all. I loved their cute whiskery faces!!! I felt pretty beat, so we headed out a little and decided to break on a small beach. Once we got out of the boat Mike started throwing clothing on me right away because my lips and toenails were blue from the cold! It turned out that once again, we missed lunch, and ended up basically at Mosquito Bay (our campsite for the night). Apparently we had been kayaking for 6 hours!!!!
Mike left me to set up the tent and brought the kayak to Steve and Olichka who had by that point given up on us and set up at Bark Bay. They packed back up, and took the kayak while Mike managed to find a ground route back to our campground. Olichka and Steve also saw a mom and baby whale on their 15 minute ride up to shore and then we both caught sight of a stingray swimming close to shore. No day is without adventure at Abel Tasman!!!
The next day was the last day for the kayak. Olichka and Steve took it early in the morning and saw seals and some penguins while they were out. In the meantime Mike and I got t leisurely eat breakfast and enjoy the morning. Once they were back we transported all of our stuff to Bark Bay, and then Mike and I set off on the kayak again, while our friends hiked. this time around we did not get to see much, but it was really good exercise and we managed to get to the kayak pickup point on time and without any issues. We were all at the campsite early and had a pretty relaxing afternoon. We were half way through our trip at that point and it was nice to relax a little bit.
The next day was a pretty great day in my opinion. It took us about 1 hour to Arawora Lodge where we found a bar and had ciders (I know, backpacking has been glamped up). This was our only link to real food and alcohol on this trip so we really really enjoyed it!! We had to time this just right because the portion of track after Arawora is only safe to do in low tide when the water recedes enough. Mike decided to be a gentleman and carry me across the streams we were crossing. After a particularly long one, I made him stop and just took my own shoes off and waded through like everybody else, but I was really touched. Olichka might even have some pics of this that she will no doubt post shortly. the rest of our journey was pretty easy through the shady bush. At the camp ground we made friends with a Canadian couple who gave us some pointers on what to do on the south island, and life was good.
We were last to leave the campsite (as usual) and started on what I think of as our hardest day of hiking. We hiked for 4 hours and our hike was up and down rolling hills at pretty steep grades. This was the day that I came the closest to loosing enjoyment due to fatigue. Especially after we refilled water and I had 2 extra liters to carry in my pack. The day was hard, but we were all in good spirits when we stopped for our last night in Abel Tasman. Mike supplemented our dinner with fresh mussels that he pulled off the rocks and then we boiled and pan fried with salt and garam masala in some sardine oil. We backpack in style! We met one of the campers from the previous night at this camp and he joined us for mussels and some after dinner conversation. I was both sad and a little glad that our hike would be over the next day, because I was pretty beat!
We all rose before sunrise and rushed to "separation point" (the boarder to two seas) where the shore jutted out and the sun was rising over the water. There was a mother and baby seal sunning themselves in the morning sun as we sad and reflected on our trip and watched the sun's progress. It was an epic last morning in the park. To end the trip we had to double back to the last pickup point, so the journey had no surprises until we got into the water taxi. We had another seal siting, as well as some cool jellyfish and even a dolphin on our way back, and Mike got soaked buy the cold cold water several times based on where he was sitting. The sounds he ended up making entertained the rest of the passengers until we could finally disembark.
Once on land and in civilization we got burgers and ciders and even splurged on a cabin with a bed for the night. Our trip was a success. I still think that the Great Walk in Tongariro was better, but only because I prefer mountains to beaches. Steve flew out last night and we are now getting ready to head South and do some glacier walking, hiking, and maybe even knife making (recommendation from the Canadians). I miss everyone and try to keep in touch the best that I can. Love you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment