On the 3rd of November we went sea kayaking in the Marlborough Sounds. We went with Adventure Guides and Southern Wilderness NZ, they picked us up at our hostel at 8:30am and took us to Anikiwa where we got a briefing on how to kayak, safety instructions, etc. They gave us sea kayaks where you sit inside instead of on the top and there’s a rudder on the back - I’d never been in one of those before. Vanessa sat in the back and I was in the front (I think I prefer the back, though).

We paddled around Ngakuta Bay for the day. First we crossed the channel (it was a litle choppy) but we mostly stuck close to the shore on the far side where it was sheltered from the wind. We saw Fluttering Shearwater, Blue Penguin, Pied Shag, Little Shag, Spotted Shag, both heron species, and the usual rest. After lunch we paddled back to Anakiwa - we got back around 3pm. Went grocery shopping and arrived back at the hostel after 5pm.

The 4th we took off from being touristy. We slept in, I rearranged some stuff in my pack to get ready for the Abel Tasman track. We got a ride into town and puttered around for a bit, and bought some groceries for the great walk. We did laundry in the afternoon, and spent some time RP’ing. We talked with the guy who ran our hostel, Graham, he was pretty hilarious. We were taking an early bus in the morning and he really didn’t want to get up that early to drive us into town. He was threatening to do nasty things to us in retaliation and we were threatening to tie all of our sheets together in the room. (No worries, we got the shuttle company to pick us up)

The 5th of November we woke up really early and were picked up at the hostel by Atomic Shuttles at 7am. The driver took us to Nelson where we were supposed to visit the market but it turned out to be only on Saturdays (it was Sunday). We bought a mess kit and some matches and sat and drank sodas until the internet cafe opened. We spent 2 hours online ($10 - not bad) before we had to leave to catch our bus. Abel Tasman Coaches picked us up at 3pm and took us to Motueka. We got directions at the i-site and bought a camp stove on the way to the hostel. We stayed at the White Elephant - it was expensive but pretty nice. We spent the evening packing, fortunately we were able to store lots of stuff at the hostel.

We got up early on the 6th and finished packing - my pack was a lot heavier than I expected. Food and water weight a freaking TON. Plus I pulled something in my back mysteriously the day before, so that plus hauling all of my stuff around town made me prematurely sore. Anyway, we caught our bus (Southern Link) and arrived at Marahau on time. There was a payphone at the trailhead and I succeeded in calling Justin, yay! He finally picked up his stupid phone. He has a new job in Big Timber that he just started, he was running a game station.

We walked from Marahau to Anchorage Hut (11.5 km) in about 4 hours. It was a very long 4 hours. My pack was very, very heavy. The next time I plan to pack a lot less (of course, next time I only have to pack for 4 days and not an entire week). The weather was overcast but nice, and it was hot while we were walking. We took one short break along the way and arrived at the hut around 1pm. Along the way we saw some birds (nothing exciting), pretty trees and ferns, beaches and coves, and waterfalls. There was some sort of black fungus infecting the trees that we wanted to ask about but forgot.

At the hut Vanessa went swimming - I didn’t because the ocean was exceedingly cold - and she saw a stingray. After that we RP’d outside for awhile but it started raining and the sandflies were eating me. Sandfly bites don’t swell up and itch, they just sort of sting initially and bleed a little.

There were lots of people at Anchorage hut, but most of them didn’t walk there like we did, they came on boats instead. A nice couple gave us some plastic forks (we were dumb and forgot forks). There were lots of Germans and one girl from Israel who asked about our storywriting. We spent the afternoon in the kitchen with the gas heater on trying to stay warm. It was raining a little outside so we didn’t do any more hiking (our feet hurt, too).

The bunkhouses on the track weren’t quite what I expected - platforms with mattresses where everyone sleeps right next to each other. I didn’t sleep so well, it just wasn’t comfortable. The people in the bunkhouse went to bed at about 8:30 or 9pm (which was pretty funny, we were all so exhausted) but they weren’t very noisy during the night or anything. My sleeping bag is infested with bedbugs - I need to do something about this!!!

The 7th was a very, very long day. We walked FAR. In RAIN. And my feet HURT. And my hips HURT. And my shoulders HURT. And by the end of the day I was walking like a freaking PENGUIN.

We left the hut a little before 7am to make the tidal crossing next to Anchorage Hut - it cut an hour off our walk. The mudflat was large and my sandals stuck and got pulled off my feet. From there we made good time to Bark Bay. Since there was a tidal crossing that we had to wait for we hung out in the Bark Bay hut with the heater on and role played. At about noon we left and headed for the crossing. The hills between Bark Bay and Tonga Quarry kicked my ASS. Along the way we hiked over a really high suspension bridge. Most of the hike was away from the water, so the scenery was all pretty fern forest. We saw a few species of birds, but for most of the hike we were too exhausted to look at much.

For a lot of the walk we hiked with two other women - Adi from Israel and Verena from Germany (Adi was younger and Verena was older, she has kids and is a midwife).

After Tonga Quarry was ok, and at the Onetahuti Bay crossing we walked along the beach for a few kilometers. It started raining hard and the wind picked up and I flipped off the clouds. The crossing itself was past our knees, because we hit the tide a little early. Afterwards there were more hills, but I did a lot better with those. We decided to go to the Awaora Lodge for something to eat. I got beef lasagna and Vanessa had a panini. It was warm, filling, yummy, and wonderful. The hut was only about 30 minutes from the lodge. Right after we got there it started pouring. Yay for timing! I took a little shower (it was cold) and we sprawled all of our stuff by the fire. Vanessa taught everyone how to play poker (kinda). It was a really nice night because there were only 4 of us in the bunkhouse.

Funny evening conversation! ***It was POURING RAIN*** outside and someone comes in our hut. Us 4 girls had just gone to bed. Verena went to see who it was.

Verena: “I think it’s a man?”
Someone: “What’s he doing out there?”
Verena: “I don’t know. I didn’t look, I think he’s undressing.”
Adi: “Oh, so it’s a naked man!”
Someone: “He’s probably more nervous of us than we are of him.”
*man enters hut*
Verena: “Hi! … Is it still raining?”
*riotous giggling laughter ensues from all 4 women, lasts for 1-2 minutes*
Verena: “We haven’t had a long day or anything.”
Poor guy.

I was kept up yet again by itchy bedbug bites. Stupid infested sleeping bag, grr. We got up at about 6:20am, had breakfast, and packed up. The ranger came over at about 7am to show us where the tidal crossing was. At its deepest the water was past my knees and below my cutoff shorts, but besides being frigid it wasn’t too bad. We stopped on the other side to change into boots.

A little ways later we arrived at a gorgeous sandy beach - and it was sunny! Verena decided to stay there for awhile and the rest of us went on ahead. We got over the hill and to Totaranui, which was where Adi’s water taxi was picking her up. There was a DOC station there with phones and a parking lot.

After Totaranui we headed over another hill to Anapai Bay. There were penguin tracks in the sand! We took a short break before going over a bigger hill to Mutton Cove. Here we stopped at a campground and a little Chaffinch hopped onto our table looking for peanuts. Finally we headed over the last (and biggest!) hill, though this one wasn’t so bad because the climb was more gradual. The top of the hill was really really windy. On the way down I tried spreading my arms into the wind to gain lift and make my pack lighter but it didn’t work. We got to the Whariwharangi hut a little after lunchtime. We claimed a little bunkroom with only 2 beds in it and Vanessa chopped wood. I made soup and ate peanut butter and napped in the warm sun.

We spent the evening huddling by the stove for warmth. The wood stove didn’t want to burn and it didn’t heat the hut very well. I slept better than the previous night, but my feet were still itchy. Everyone else froze from the cold - I love my down sleeping bag!

Our final day on the Abel Tasman track was the 9th of November. We walked more than 50 km total and I smelled really bad by the end. We got up early yet again to a very cold hut. Verena was insane and went swimming at the beach. We packed up and were out by 8:30am. It was overcast and chilly as we hiked up the hill. It was a long climb - 600m - but gradual. When we got to the top it started raining a little, and we could see snow on mountain peaks in the distance. There were lots of birdies as we hiked down. We got to Wainui carpark at about 10m, but the bus wasn’t due until 11:20. So we waited in the really cold wind and rain under the elaborately-carved but useless little shelter (a roof with information panels) and froze our assess off for more than an hour until the bus arrived.

The bus dropped us of right at our hostel in Takaka. Golden Bay Barefoot lost our booking but they gave us a bunkroom to ourselves. We took hot showers, drank tea, and huddled by the wood stove. Then we were starving so we went to the cafe downtown for some food. We stopped at the grocery store and ducked in a few art stores that were in town.

In the evening we watched an old Johnny Depp movie called ‘Dead Man’ - it was humorous, and there was lots of symbolism (I think it may have been based off of a book). We met a biker from Oregon who was really nice. Picked up ‘Snow Falling on Cedars’ - it was good! I need to read it when I get home.

I didn’t sleep well, probably due to drinking tea too late in the day and to the room being a bit cold. In the morning we tried to sleep in but didn’t succeed very well. We crawled out of bed at 8:15 to pack up our things. The hostel had free fresh bread - yum! The bus picked us up in front of the hostel a few minutes past 9am. We drove up to Collingwood and were dropped off in ‘downtown’. Collingwood is a tiny town right on the water. There are only a few shops and information is at the post office / gift shop.

We called the Innlet but I got the answering machine, so we decided to walk (1 km). It was a really pretty walk and there were plenty of birdies to look at, though it was a bit windy. Fortunately when we got about halfway a lady picked us up and gave us a ride (yay!)

The Innlet was absolutely gorgeous. I could move there! Maybe I should look for a grant to study birds on Farewell Spit. We had our own little cottage out back with a kitchen. The main house had a deck wrapping around it with lots of places to sit. There was a garden and a little creek out back just below it. Two bathtubs were by the creek, they fill with hot water and you could soak in them. There was a composting toilet (= really really nice biffy) and the beach was just a short walk away.

We decided to walk down to the beach around midday. It was high tide but there weren’t many birdies around. After awhile we headed back. We would have done the nearby bush walk but Vanessa’s knee was hurting her, so we RP’d instead. At 6pm we went back to the beach and followed directions from the hostel owner to dig for clams! Or cockles, as they’re called here. We dug next to the low tide channel until we found a clam bed. After 20 or 30 minutes we had more than 40 clams (I found most of them - I am a clam-digging fiend!!). We brought them back and put them in boiling water - clam feast! I think that was my first time catching my own dinner, I’m really glad Vanessa wanted to do it. The clams were really good - one had a little crab inside, but they weren’t sandy.

I put my sleeping bag in the refrigerator in an attempt to kill the horrible biting insects residing inside of it (no idea if it worked yet). Oh, and surprise!! Verena followed us to the Innlet. Yay!!