Trip Home

We had a leisurely morning before packing up the gear for the drive back. Corinna got up early enough for a beautiful sunrise. We finally got going and made it to Motueka for some fuel. Soon after, Hank got car sick so we had a bit of a delay there. We wound our way over highway 6 along the Buller River, where rain began to fall. Up until that point we had great weather for the whole trip. We eventually made it to the coast where Fa took over for a bit of driving. She drove as much as she could stand it in the narrow, steep, winding road, and then turned it over to Corinna. She drove up to Punakaiki, in Paparoa National Park, where we stopped for some food and a short walk to the pancake rocks and blowholes. Unfortunately the tide was low so no blowholes where blowing. We did see wekas, a relative of the kiwi, back at the car. They were very interesting and had a strange call. I posted a video of them earlier. We continued down through Greymouth, which is not worth stopping at, and then stopped at Hokitika, where we found a motel near the beach. We were pretty exhausted by this time so didn’t do anything more than relax in the spa and then went out for dinner. By dark, Hank and I took a wall to the Glow Worm Dell across the main highway. The glow worms were very cool, kind of magical like. Once back at the motel we couldn’t get anyone else to come see them, though.

Next day we got going in mid-morning and stopped at a local bakery for muffins and pies. After fueling up the car we drove straight through to Franz Joseph Glacier, a short 4 km off the highway. Hank, Corinna and I took the 10 minute walk to a viewpoint where we could see the glacier. Next time we’ll have to take the long walk in where we could get close. By then, if not before, I think we were all ready to be home so that was the last tourist stop we made. A couple of hours later, we passed Haast and started up the Haast River Valley. Corinna took over the drive and took us over the pass to Lake Wanaka and Hawea, then down into the town of Wanaka for some fuel. We quickly fueled up the car and ourselves, then started the last 3 hours to Dunedin. The weather had cleared up as we came east over the mountains, but then worsened while dropping down to the coast. It was dark and rainy by Milton and all the way home. We dropped Corinna off and arrived home around 6 something. I had turned everything off when we left so we arrived home to an 8 C house. I started a fire and we unpacked, showered, and relaxed after a great week trip.

Wednesday, 25 April

Last day on the track. We started as usual at about 9:00 am. The first km was very steep, but provided great views of Anchorage Bay. Once at the top we walked up and down for many kms. We saw a lot of people on this section, either because we were close to the start of the track or because it was a national holiday (ANZAC Day, commemorating the battle at Gallipoli). Near the end Hank was dragging so Fa took his pack while I pulled him along. By the end we were practically running. We made it to the end and I walked the road back to the car, drove to the trailhead, picked everyone up, and drove back to the holiday park. We set up our tents and took much needed showers. After a nice dinner of nachos in the kitchen, which was much envied by the other campers, we went to bed. It was a great end to a great tramp.

Tuesday, 24 April

We woke up today very sore. Good thing we had some Aleve. We had breakfast and got underway by 9:30. The going was pretty easy compared to yesterday. We made it to Torrent Bay at noon and took off our shoes for some beach walking. About half-way across the bay the mussel and clam shells were too much for everyone except Ginny. We put on our crocs while Ginny continued on barefoot. After crossing a final mudflat we climbed 50 meters over a rise and down to Anchorage Beach. We walked along the beach to the hut and claimed a bunk. We were so early today that we had a lot of time for relaxing. The kids put on their wetsuits and waded around in the water. Finally Fa and I jumped in and the kids followed. However, even though the air was warm, the water was cold so we didn’t last too long. Fa and I read and napped on the beach while the kids swam and played for 4 or 5 hours. It was a fantastic way to spend the last day on the tramp. Eventually we made our way back to the hut for dinner and then looked at the stars as it got dark. We shared the room with others again but it was not as loud as last night. A very nice day.

Monday, 23 April

We got up at 7:00 am with a goal to get on the trail by 9:00. We made breakfast and packed up for our first real day of hiking. We wore boots this time, since yesterday we thought the hut was close enough that we only wore crocs and sandals. The cairns from yesterday were still standing. We quickly covered the distance back to the water crossing from yesterday and started up the hill. After over an hour of climbing we could still see the Awaroa Lodge from yesterday, which was not encouraging. Finally we crossed the divide and began descending to Onetahuti Beach, which we reached by about 11:00. By then our feet were getting pretty hot, but no blisters yet. We took off our boots and walked barefoot down the beach. We reached the end of the beach and the start of the trail and decided to have a one-hour lunch break. Onetahuti is just about the most perfect beach we had ever seen.

It has no hut but we’ll have to come back to the campground at some point. After exploring some rocks and a cave, we loaded up for the final couple of hours to Bark Bay. It may have been a mistake to have had such a long break because we were pretty slow on the trail after that. Corinna went on ahead to save some bunks while we trudged along. Eventually she came back and took Hank’s pack as we walked the last km around Bark Bay. We arrived at the hut and took our boots off our aching feet. Ginny changed into her wet suit and Hank and I followed her to the beach, but she didn’t go in. We came back to the hut to find Fa in bed. We made dinner and then went to bed by 7:00 pm. There’s not a lot to do when it gets dark at 6:00 and you don’t have electricity. We were the first to bed so had to listen to much talking and laughter for a couple of hours. Also, we had to share the room for the first time and listen to some snoring, although not too bad.

Sunday, 22 April

Big day today. We awoke to great weather. We slept with the tent door open so the fly was dry. We had breakfast and packed up our stuff – our packs for the tramp and the rest for the car. I moved the car over to a long-term carpark and we waited for our

10:30 water taxi. We had a lot of stuff – each person’s backpack plus boots and other things strapped on. The skipper of our boat arrived and we loaded him up with our packs. They were all pretty heavy but somehow we got them on board and stowed, although they were thrown around pretty casually. Luckily nothing fell out. We boarded the boat on the trailer as usual for here. It was about half-tide so when we got to the water it was too shallow for the boat ramp. We drove around in about 3′ feet of water until another tractor showed up and the drivers transferred. Our skipper waded out and got on board. It’s a pretty weird setup they have here but we’re used to it since we did the same thing last year. Eventually we were launched off the trailer and underway. The skipper warned us that it was too shallow to head straight out so he was going to have to really throttle down and get on plane as soon as possible to be able to get over the sandbars and then weave back and forth to find the deepest channels. That’s exactly what he did as we whipped back and forth until finally we got to deep water. It was amazing and something like a carnival ride, probably a lot like the jet boat rides on the rivers in NZ. Lots of fun. We detoured south to Split Apple Rock, just like last year, where the skipper, Glen, told us some Moari stories about the rock. We then traveled up the coast where Glen stopped occasionally and told us about the sights. We stopped for the longest at the Tonga Island seal colony and took some pictures. We dropped off a passenger at Onetahuti Bay and then sailed around to Awaroa Bay, where we were dropped off. They have a neat way to drop off passengers: the boat approaches the shore in reverse, drops an anchor off the bow as it reverses, and then lifts the motor as the boat beaches. Then we get off and the windlass pulls the boat back to deep water as the engine is starting. Very slick and they really have it down. You barely get wet. Awaroa Bay is very nice and the kids found a dead crab immediately, but we didn’t think we had time to explore so we found the trail and were off.

 

The trail passes a lodge where we were tempted by their nice cafe, but we decided to push on. The Abel Tasman National Park has several areas with private holdings and this was one of them. They are only accessible by water or air. Maybe someday we’ll come back to try them. The food smelled particularly good. We passed by the lodge, walked through their “airfield”, and then found our first obstacle. I guess we didn’t read the notes carefully on our maps but we were faced with a high-tide crossing of a creek mouth. We walked up and down it for a half an hour, trying to see if we could cross, and eventually discovered a place where we only got wet up to our thighs. After crossing we rejoined the trail and walked another 1 km to the Awaroa Hut.

 

Our first day was supposed to be easy but we were disappointed at the slow start. However, Awaroa Hut is very nice and set on a beautiful estuary. We claimed the top bunk in one room and then set about some serious relaxing. Fa took the kids looking for crabs while Corinna and I read for a while. The kids returned and Hank and I built a couple of rock cairns for fun.We had dinner as it got dark and then went to bed quite early – about 7:00 pm.

 

 

 

It was a very nice day.

 

 

 

 

Saturday, 21 April

We woke up at 7:00 am to a wet tent. Actually, it was cold last night so we made the mistake of closing up the doors and windows so the water was from condensation on the inside of the rain fly. We opened everything up and tried to dry it as we had breakfast. After breakfast we packed up the wet tents and hit the road.

We quickly passed through the Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains, stopping to fuel up in Amberly. Fa wanted to give driving a go so she took over for a while until we got a ways into the mountains near Hanmer Springs. I took over and continued over Lewis Pass. I remembered a waterfall we stopped at last year so I offered to get us there for lunch. Unfortunately, it was much farther than I remembered so we didn’t get to stop until 2:00 pm, but we got there.

After eating we continued on to Marahau, the start of the Abel Tasman Coast Track. We booked our water taxi ride for tomorrow and got a tent site for the night. We set up our tents and got some food for dinner at the camp shop. At the holiday park kitchen, we cooked up some baked potatoes with various toppings for dinner with the slowest stove and oven in the world. Eventually we were able to eat – yummy. After dinner we all wandered to the beach to look at the stars. There was no moon so viewing conditions were perfect. We saw the main constellations, the Milky Way, several planets, some satellites, and shooting stars. We got to bed and prepared for our trip tomorrow.

Friday, 20 April

We spent last night doing our final packing for our trip. It was complicated by the fact that we needed two sets of supplies: one for the hiking part and one for the camping part. Fa and I tried on our packs when we were done. At that time it seemed manageable. Today we got Fa off to school for her last final while we went to the library to get some reading materials for the trip. The kids and I thought we had a lot of time for final preparations but we nearly ran out of time. We got back to the house and packed the car. It was a strange setup with one of the middle seats facing backwards and one of the back seats down. We needed seating for 5 to take Corinna with us. We got the car packed and the kids played in it while I cleaned the house – I wanted it to be clean for when we returned. I turned off all of the electrical appliances except for the fridge. We got out and filled up the car, but by then it was too late to get food before picking up Fa and Corinna. We met them at Corinna’s house and loaded up her stuff. We were finally on the road at 3:30 pm. We drove to Timaru, got some food for dinner, and then 20 kms farther to Temuka, where we got to the holiday park as it was almost dark. We quickly set up our tents (Corinna’s first time) and had dinner in the dark. We bundled up from the cold and went to sleep. We were happy to be on the road – it was a good start to our trip.

Some Videos

I have many photos to post, but, since that takes so long to do on WordPress, I’ve started with some videos.

Here is the view outside Awaroa Hut:

Hiking along the Abel Tasman Coast Track:

Pancake rocks at Paparoa National Park:

Wekas, related to Kiwis:

Back from Holiday

We’re back from our holiday in Abel Tasman National Park. We arrived last night after driving for about 10 hours from Hokitika. I have many pictures and movies to edit so you’ll have to wait to see them. In short, we left last Friday and went to Temuka the first night. Saturday we arrived at Marahau and stayed one night. Then we rode the water taxi to Awaroa. The next night we hiked to Bark Bay, and the following night Anchorage. Wednesday we hiked back out to Marahou and camped the night. The total distance was about 32 km.
This is what our hiking map looked like when we were finished.

We drove to Hokitika on Thursday and then pushed through to Dunedin yesterday.

Here is a shot of our road route.

More to come!

Holiday

Today we’re leaving for our week-long holiday. We’re driving to Marahau over the next 2 days and walking the Abel Tasman Coast Track Sunday through Wednesday. We’ll return to Dunedin on the West Coast, which we missed when we were here last year. Many pictures and movies to come!