One Great Walk.

Here's a tip for your next backpacking trip (kiwi translation "tramp"): soak your oats the night before, add dates. The soaking will reduce cooking time (and fuel consumption) while making them a spectacular mushy texture. The cooked dates will ooze natural sugars that will taste as good as bacon after a night of sleeping on the ground listening to the eager mosquitos buzz by your tent. In addition to your morning glory, other food items that fit nicely into your backpack could include: pepperoni (which oddly will last days despite the heat), cheese (this however, will get soggier with humidity), and more Whitakers chocolate than you think you'll need.

Apart from enjoying your well-earned food, a hiking trip can make you fall in love with the outdoors all over again. While there are always the bits that test your ability to either endure or enjoy (say, for instance - rain that causes the skin to raisin or perhaps sandflies that cause body to swel, etc.) they are far many more bits that make you want to burst. From the moment we left the trail head at Marahau until the water taxi fetched us at Totaranui - Abel Tasman was one great walk.

Please see the photo description below.

Abel Tasman is a gentle walk, so gentle we wore running shoes (only to be passed by day-trippers in flip-flops). This being our third "Great Journey" in NZ (basically by "Great" meaning spectacular and popular), we knew the trip wouldn't disappoint. Here you can see I am obviously thrilled to be beginning our first South Island tramp.

Walking along on our first day we were getting the feeling that Abel Tasman National Park was the place to be. Until we realized that it essentially was. The park is actually incredibly accessible by boat (both personal operators and water taxis). So our first lunch break was spent sharing the beach with a few dozen kiwi families and their motorboats.

Our first campsite: A beach (almost) to ourselves, (somewhat) warm Tasman Bay water, our groundsheet as a beach blanket, and some reading material. When you are unemployed by choice you do your best to stimulate your intellectual by reading copious amounts of books (both fiction and non). I've decided it helps keep you sharp.

When the NZ weather catches you off guard, you wait it out in a hut, for four to five hours. We hang the tent under the veranda hoping that it will dry out somewhat despite the 100% humidity. The pounding rain was the soundtrack to our afternoon in the hut, as we (along with some fellow trampers and a few stranded kayakers) waited for the precipitation to subside and the tide to roll out.

The next day, the sun poured out with a vengenance, as if begging forgiveness for the day before. We were dry, warm, happy, and met with too many glorious beaches to know what to do with.

A tidal crossing leaves Bry ferrying our packs above his head while nervous trampers watch on. He offers to carry me across the stream above his head, however unlike my sleeping bag, I do not mind getting wet.

Being the brilliant folks we are, we actually find a cafe en route that agrees to serve us a beer, chocolate milk, and piece of cake (for a small fee of $23 NZD - money well spent). As we reflect over our journey we agree that something about this Great Walk felt odd. Perhaps it was the lack of commradery of our fellow coastal walkers, or maybe it was the fact that walkers could taxi their gear ahead and carry only their camera, or even drop in via motorboat to a spectacular beach it took you 4 days to walk to. In any case, Abel Tasman is breathtaking, and was worth every step.