Abel Tasman : The Cancun of New Zealand

First things first: Abel Tasman is the Cancun of New Zealand. It’s hard to describe just how clear or blue the water there is because the photos just don’t do the place justice.  You just have to go there yourself to understand.  I’ll start from the beginning.  By the way, this post is going to be a little bit shorter than some of the other ones because it's mostly about walking and taking pictures.  Not a lot of commentary needed for that.  Here we go.

We woke up well after the sun had risen the next day.  The opportunity to sleep in had been way too tempting to dismiss, so we took our time getting ready.  At this point, now that several weeks have passed, I can’t quite remember what Elwin did or who went where, but I decided to do a scenic walk along the park.  Yeah, that thing is humongous.  I think attempting to scratch the surface of it would probably take two days at least.  A lot of people end up doing the three or four day trek where they camp out overnight and do all of the little side hikes.  I only had a day, so I decided to employ the use of an aqua taxi.  You basically ask them to take you out to a certain point and drop you off so that you can walk back on foot.  Or you walk out there and have a predetermined time and place in mind for meeting them to take you back.  Either way works, and it’s much easier than trying to do the whole thing up and down yourself.  I did it the first way, but now I wonder if it would have been easier the second way since you can just look forward to a nice trip home at the end.  I guess it doesn’t really matter.

A good majority of the bus was doing a big catamaran thing where they got about 23 people together to rent out a boat for the day.  It involved cruising, swimming, drinking, and barbecuing pieces of meat all day and then coming back around dinner time.  I was tempted to do that as well, but it was only my second day with this particular group of people, and I didn’t want to be stuck on a boat all day without knowing if we were going to click or not.  It’s never a good idea to be at the mercy of someone else’s schedule, so I decided to my own thing that day and do something a lot less expensive.  It turned out to be a good call because they were fully booked out, and the water was too cold for swimming anyways.  I think they ended up having a good time, but I’m glad that I made the decision that I did.  Felt like I saw a lot more. 

So I went over to reception and booked the next available bus to come pick me up, then I just hung out with Barney for the twenty minutes it took for them to arrive.  The aqua taxis themselves are kind of cool because they have to be dragged out into the water by these gigantic tractors.  The water is super shallow for quite a ways out into the cove, so a guy can literally pull the boat halfway out into the bay before having to turn back.  I was way in the back of the boat, so I had a good, unobstructed view of the scenery behind us.  The only problem was that it was a bit chilly that morning, and I was only in a T-shirt at the time, so I was pretty cold for the ride out there.  It eventually warmed up later in the day and got really nice, though.

  
The tractor that towed us out there.  Kayak. 

Once we opened up the throttle and hit the water, it was pretty easy going.  Our guide took us around the other way first to show us Split Apple Rock, which is fairly self-explanatory, and then circled around to take us all out to our scheduled destinations.  A few of the other passengers on board were doing the drop-off and pick-up later in the day, so I was one of the first to get out at Torrent Bay.  I had had the option of disembarking on the spot before that – Anchorage Bay – but the lady in the reception had told me to try Torrent because it was near Cleopatra’s Pool and involved a little extra scenery.  If you look on the map, Torrent is just about one third of the way up the main track, and almost right next to Anchorage.  You would assume, then, that it wouldn’t take long to walk from one to the other.  Yeah, I’m not going to make any assumptions again anytime soon.   

 
Split Apple Rock and heading out towards Torrent Bay

The boat pulled right up to the beach at Torrent and dropped me off, telling me to just head along the beach in a certain direction and to try and make it back to camp before dark.  Sounded easy enough.  This is where those amazing, postcard-worthy beaches come in.  It was hard not to take a picture every few seconds because it was just that pretty.  I decided to follow the reception lady’s advice and followed the map towards Cleopatra’s Pool.  According to the signs, that would take me quite a ways out into the forest and add an extra hour to my hike back, but I was feeling pretty well-rested after all of that sleep.  The trek out there was definitely memorable with trails winding in and out of the trees, always within sight of the water.  One of the coolest thing was the fact that every campground was surrounded by little beach houses.  People actually live – or at least vacation – in these bungalows right next to the water and have sailboats to go cruising every day.  Sounds like quite a life.              

  

Cute little houses on the water

This trail in particular went on for a good hour and a half through the brush, and when I finally found Cleopatra’s Pool, it was at a dead end.  There was no way to loop around to the other side of the lagoon.  The pool itself was pretty nice, but it was way too cold for swimming.  Some people had that idea and were down there already, but I was fine with just watching – nothing like walking back home for five hours with wet hair.  There’s one cool feature about this particular swimming spot in that it comes equipped with its own natural waterslide.  One of the ledges juts away from the waterfall and slopes out into the pool at such an angle that it becomes perfect for sliding down.  The rock has been worn down by the water over the last couple hundred years, so it’s basically smooth, too.  I managed to go a ways further upstream for a few more photo opportunities, but the trail became all but impassable after a short distance.  All I accomplished was some creative rock jumping and nearly sliding feet first into the river before having to turn back to the trail.

  


Trail on the way to Cleopatra's Pool



Area around Cleopatra's Pool, complete with water slide

As it turns out, that little centimeter on the map between Torrent and Anchorage is, in reality, fairly steep and winds all the way around the mountain.  It took me over an hour to get close to the ocean again, and I was practically dead on my feet by the time I got there.  Anchorage looked so nice and inviting after that ordeal that I, who hates sunbathing as a general rule and wear jeans 365 days a year, stripped right down to my swimsuit and collapsed on the beach for a good thirty minutes or so.  It was sort of nice and peaceful to just lie there and work through the remains of my food supply, but it was cut short when I looked to my right and saw this massive spider trying to crawl into my backpack.  Oh right, they like to hide in driftwood on the west coast.  After that, I couldn’t really relax, and the water was still just above freezing, so I gathered up my clothes and continued on.

  
Sunbathing on the beach at Anchorage Bay

It was kind of discouraging to look at the map and see the depressingly small amount of progress made in two and a half hours, and I knew that I had at least four hours of walking to go, so I didn’t waste any more time from that point on.  There were all sorts of signs leading off towards other cool spots like Cleopatra’s Pool, but I had to ignore them and stick to the main path.  I think that’s how people end up spending days in the bush – checking out all of those locations.  The path from Anchorage back to base was especially steep, too, so I was getting really tired.  For any of you thinking of doing this at some point, that little stretch between Anchorage and the next marker is definitely the worse.  After that, it’s all literally downhill. 

  

The trail on the way back to camp

Just at the steepest point of the trail, I took a moment to breathe and drink the last swallow of water I had when all of a sudden, a group of familiar figures emerged right in front of me.  My group of friends from Stray had managed to find me against all odds and suggested walking back to camp together.  That was just awesome.  Turns out that some of them had started out on the big party boat and gotten bored, and the rest of them had done the same thing as me, except that they had started later at Anchorage instead.  Point is, we all ended up at the same place at the same time, so it made the walk back much more enjoyable.  Natalie and Alec were the two that I ended up hanging out with the most, and they were just awesome.  Natalie is a quirky English girl from outside Manchester and Alec is a 40-something gay guy who manages to pull of the appalled silence that comes naturally to British art connoisseurs in any situation.  He was sort of the mascot of our bus, and Natalie was our morale officer.  I miss those guys now. 

Once you have someone to talk to, the time goes by a lot faster, and you don’t really notice how much further you have to hike.  Before I knew it, we were within range of The Barn, and it was just starting to fade into sunset.  I took a few last-minute photos for the road, grabbed a celebratory smoothie from the café, and then headed back to camp.   

That night, we made ourselves some more sausages and potatoes under the stars and enjoyed the sunset lighting.  There’s something very peaceful about being out in the wilderness, sitting around a giant camp fire, and just enjoying the atmosphere.  We were treated to some amazing constellations that night, too, because of the clear night and complete lack of light pollution.  I was able to recall my intensive astronomy lesson that I got in Napier and point out a few of the major southern hemisphere ones.  Eventually, we all retired to our tents, dorms, and cabins for another day on the road.  Most of the group had to be up and on the bus by 9am the next day, but I had to get up…earlier.  I’ll tell you guys why in the next post.  It involves the booking of another activity, though.  Hmm, fun times.  Until then!

Goodnight!

Journey to the South Island - Picton to Abel Tasman

Wow, a lot has happened since Wellington.  I really don’t even know how to start this next post because just thinking of all the things I have to catch up is giving me a bit of a headache.  Oh well, best to start from the beginning, I suppose – the ferry to the South Island.

As I mentioned two posts ago, I had to catch the 7am Bluebridge ferry to Picton, so that meant a really early start to my day.  Anyway who knows me can say that I’m definitely not a morning person and that I’m practically useless for the first few hours of the day, but I managed to drag myself out of bed, quickly get ready, and meet my shuttle down on the street by 6:45.  Ugh.  I hate going without coffee.  So I chatted with the driver to wake myself up and ending up getting to the ferry building a few minutes before 7.  Check in and everything was fairly simple, so it was just a matter of waiting for everything to get prepped.  If I’d known that I didn’t really have to be there until 7:30, I might have slept in later, but oh well.

The plus side was that I got to watch the sun rise over the harbor, so that was pretty sweet.  They eventually gave the call for boarding sometime before 8, and we all walked onto this truly massive boat.  When I think of a “ferry,” I think of a little 20-seater run by a couple of guys with a radio, but this thing was like a cruise ship.  I think I passed three or four flights on the stairs before I got to anything resembling the passenger area.  Then that was two whole levels itself, not including the bow and viewing areas.  They had a whole cafeteria, movie lounge, café, and reading area on one floor and a whole other seating area up above.  Just insane. 

  
 
Wellington Harbor at Dawn

 
 
Leaving Wellington

I had made a promise to myself to be outside at least 70% of the trip, though, so I went straight to the viewing deck in the front.  It was exceptionally colder and windier out there, but I managed to persevere with extra gloves and a windbreaker.  I’m really glad that I did stay out there, too, because the scenery is just breath-taking.  I think it’s tempting to hide away in the main lounge, where it’s nice and warm, but then you miss out on the awesome views.  It took forever to pull out of Wellington harbor, but we got a nice look at a few coastal suburbs and lighthouses on the way.  When we were out at sea, I disappeared inside to read my book for a little bit (been trying to re-read a copy of 1984 that a German guy left behind lately), but I came out just in time to see the beginnings of the Marlborough Sounds.  People have told me continuously since I first arrived in New Zealand that the South Island is heaps better than the North Island and that I should go there yesterday, but I was a little skeptical.  I mean, the North Island is pretty awesome in its own right.  The general consensus seems to be: the North is beautiful, but the South is just more.  More wild, more overgrown, more…everything.  From just that first glimpse of it on the boat, I can kind of see where they’re coming from.

  
My first look at the South Island.  See the trees?  Even New Zealand loves itself.

Okay, I’ve been on the South Island for almost a month now, and I’m still loving it, but I will say that there are pluses and minuses.  Plus: Okay, really beautiful, like oh-my-God-I-need-200-pictures-of-this-from-every-angle beautiful.  Minus: Really spread out.  Like, “Oh, we just need to get from Point A to Point B today?  That’s, what, a centimeter on the map? How long will that take? …Seven hours?!!!”  Windy roads and mountain passes can do that.  Plus:  More rugged and authentic New Zealand.  Looks a lot like how the country used to before humans interfered with everything.  Minus: Sandflies.  Enough said.  I think that covers most of my bullet statements.  Do I prefer one island over the other?  Hmm, not really.  Like I said, they each have their particular strengths and weaknesses.  If someone put a gun to my head right now, I probably wouldn’t be able to make an honest decision.  Back to my initial impression.

The sounds that we pulled into were definitely out-of-this-world.  The water was a clear, picturesque blue, the mountains rose straight out of the ocean and just kept going up, and little boats were zipping around all over the coves.  There were also a few tiny beach houses tucked right inside the bays, the only way in or out obviously the beach in front of them. That was pretty cool.  How sweet would that be, to hop in your jet boat or sailboat and ride to town for groceries and supplies?  I imagine it would get kind of old after a while, but it would be nice to stay in one of those little dock houses just for the experience. 

  
 
 
More pretty pictures.  See all of the houses on the shore?

We kept going towards Picton at a snail’s pace, and I took way too many pictures.  We finally docked at the harbor there and made our way down to the cargo bay of the ship, where all of the cars and luggage trucks were kept.  Once we were had all unloaded, a shuttle took a handful of us at a time over to the welcome center  so that we could pick up our bags. The big, orange Stray bus was waiting for us right across the street, so that made it nice and simple for us to head over there and get on.

  
Docking at Picton

At first, I couldn’t figure out where the driver was.  I thought that he’d just left his bus there on the side of the road and that we’d have to go track him down, but then this young guy standing a few paces away from me suddenly took charge and started giving everyone directions for loading their bags on.  I still didn’t get the memo and just assumed that he was a very confident guy able to take control of a situation.  Turns out that he was our driver, Caas.  I have no idea how to spell that.  Caz?  Caaash?  Think short for “casual.”  Not an abbreviation for cashmere, as he informed us.  And his name is so appropriate.  I think he’s the most laid-back guy I’ve ever met.  He’s a 20-year-old college student at Christchurch University majoring in Physics, and he’s been doing the Stray Bus thing ever since the earthquake there messed everything up.  Apparently it’s something that he’s done on previous summers, so he was able to pick up where he left up while all the students were stuck wondering what to do.  He’s very cool – definitely my favorite Stray driver thus far.  I was impressed that first day especially because he had to organize three different drop-offs and pick-ups, collect money for various activities people wanted to do and keep it all straight, and then he had to cook a big BBQ for everyone at the end of the night.  Talk about multi-tasking.  I think I would have been stressed out to the extreme trying to keep it all organized, but he was Mr. Cool, just calmly asking for clarification over the speaker system and calling it in to headquarters as he was driving these super windy roads. 

Our bus – “Richard,” it turns out – was equally awesome.  We had a great group of people who really got on immediately, and there were quite a few entertaining characters on board.  I felt like we were on a sitcom from the ‘90s, frankly.  We had playboys, social butterflies, loners, overly-patriotic Americans, a crazy Jewish lady, and our token gay guy.  Has anyone seen the movie, “The Boat That Rocked?”  Yeah, it was kind of like that.  I bonded very quickly with a small group of 5 or 6 and stayed with them all the way to Queenstown.  I hadn’t really had the chance to make friends on the other Stray buses because I was only on them for a stop or two at a time, and I usually got on at a point when everyone else had already been together for several prior stops.  This was different because most people had taken a few days to explore Wellington, so they were all mixed up again – hardly anyone knew each other from previous buses.  Overall, it was just an amazing bunch of people.  I kind of miss them now because I doubt I’ll get that lucky with a group again.

Back to Picton.  We only stayed there long enough to pick up a few more people in backpackers across town, but it was a cute little coastal community.  Not a whole lot there, granted, but just very quaint and pretty.  We continued on towards Nelson and our destination for that night, Abel Tasman.  Before we made it to either of those places, though, we stopped at a small winery on the side of the road for some wine tasting.  It was only $5, so I figured it would be a nice diversion.  I remembered my lessons from Henry and Nikki and was able to look like I knew what I was doing with the swirling of the glass and the breathing through the mouth thing.  Overal, it wasn’t bad.  I personally like super sweet wines, like Port and after-harvest Merlots, and most wines are a lot drier than that, so I knew that the chances of finding the perfect one were low.  Oh well.  We stayed there and walked around a bit more before hopping back on the bus with a pleasant buzz. 

  
Wine tasting with my new friends

That eventually turned into naptime as the alcohol kicked in, so pretty much everyone was half-asleep by the time we arrived in Nelson.  Before that, though, we made a little stop next to a bridge and looked down at the river.  We were specifically asked not to jump off the bridge, but a few people went down in their bathing suits to swim.  I thought it was way too cold for that, so I just stayed up on the shore and watched.  Then we continued on to Nelson.  It seems like a really nice, quiet town right next to the beach, so it’s a shame that we couldn’t stay there longer.  I just grabbed something to eat from a bakery and a little money from Westpac before having to meet up with the bus again.  The scenery as we left was just spectacular – lots of white, flawless beaches and people windsurfing all over the place. Again, wish we could’ve stayed longer.      

 
 
The bridge we stopped at for a swim

  
 
Passing through Nelson.  Sigh.

The rest of the trip to Abel Tasman was uneventful, but we got to see some nice, green hills rolling by out the window. Caas stopped at a supermarket on the way to buy groceries for our dinner – we all chipped in $10 for burgers and the works – and he also convinced us to try mussels fresh from the ocean.  Surprisingly good, actually.  I had a feeling that I would like them since they’re similar to clams, so that was cool. 

By the time we pulled into camp, it was already getting dark.  My day started at 6am, and I didn’t actually arrive at my destination until well after 8pm, so that was a long day on the road.  It was good to be someplace to sit down.  Our accommodation for the night was a place called The Barn, a cozy little site in a grove of trees that seemed like a fancier version of a campground.  They had the whole set up with the atmosphere, rudimentary kitchen, and a few tents interspersed between the trees, but then we actually ended up staying in buildings and having hot showers.  It was a nice tradeoff.  Actually, because I was practically the last person in line, I managed to get an upgrade on my room for no extra charge.  Instead of staying the dorms with everyone else, I got to sleep in a nice two-person cabin facing out towards the mountains.  That was much quieter and a lot less hassle for me.  Plus, I got roomed with Elwin, a guy who believes in a good night’s sleep and tries his best not to wake people up in the middle of the night.  We were both exhausted from traveling all day, so we unanimously agreed to an early night. 

 

Our campsite for the night

Just before bedtime, though, we all got around to cooking that feast of hamburgers, salad, mashed potatoes, mussels, and sausages.  We had to work hard to keep it away from Barney the Goat, the cute family mascot of The Barn.  He was very friendly and curious to meet everyone, and he took to head-butting my legs in particular.  When he did that, I made it a point of calling him Barnabus, which he seemed to hate for some reason.  And that was pretty much our evening for the first night.  The next day was all about exploring Abel Tasman National Park, so we went to bed with the expectation that we’d be seeing some awesome beaches the next day.  Don’t worry, I took plenty of pictures.  Until next time!