Abel Tasman and Nelson

Friday morning we head back to Kaiteriteri where Phil and Dianne will be dropped off by water taxi for an all day walk on the Abel Tasman Track. Ed and Colleen will kayak on the Tasman Sea in the morning, then take a water taxi to meet Phil and Dianne midway through their walk and the four of us will walk the afternoon together, to be picked up by water taxi late in the day.

This is Colleen writing and our morning kayaking along the coast was just beautiful. We were a group of six in three double kayaks. Our guide was knowledgeable of the history and natural history of the area and shared with us a deep understanding and appreciation of Maori traditions and legends. We glided under nesting colonies of cormorants, called shags here in New Zealand, past forested islands and into sea caves on a calm and beautiful blue-green sea. After lunch, we headed back to the beach to catch the water taxi for a ride up the coast for our pre-arranged meeting with Phil and Dianne. After about an hour on the water and a few stops, our water taxi backed up to a beach and let a ramp down. Our names were called among the departing passengers. We got off on the beautiful secluded beach... but..... no Phil and Dianne. Oh-oh... what to do now? We looked around a bit, certain they were there somewhere. When we found the trail, we discovered that this was not the beach where we had been told we would be dropped off. The beach where Phil and Dianne must be waiting for us was a half hour walk in the wrong direction, away from our pre-scheduled water taxi pick-up later in the afternoon. We took off toward the beach where we were sure Phil and Dianne must be waiting for us and immediately the trail began a steep climb that didn’t stop any time soon. At the top of the hill we met Phil and Dianne, who had figured out what must have happened when the water taxi passed their beach without stopping.

Now, to backtrack... remember that Phil and Dianne had enquired about the difficulty of the walk before signing up for it and they had been assured, by the young and well conditioned person behind the counter, that it was an easy and mostly level walk. Dianne, smart woman that she is, brought her walking poles despite the assurances that they wouldn’t be necessary. Phil brought one pole and Ed brought none. We all headed back in the direction of our water taxi pick-up, back past the beach where Ed and I had been dropped off. Leaving the beach, again, the trail headed straight up... and up... and UP! By now, we were getting worried about reaching our pick-up in time. Soon we were high up into the hills, looking out over the Tasman Sea in the distance, and I mean by that, a far distance and a high altitude. Finally the trail started down again and we reached a fork, one trail was marked as the low tide trail and the other the high tide trail. It was a couple of hours before low tide, but we took a chance on the low tide trail, knowing that it was more direct and, by then, we all preferred wading over climbing. We crossed a beautiful beach, wading through water several times, but never above our knees. At the far end of the beach the trail again headed up but to our great relief it was a gentle climb and a short distance through the woods to our pick-up beach. We arrived just shortly before our water taxi... WHEW!

Home again and along with cooking another delicious dinner for tonight, Dianne has decided to make barley soup so it will be all ready to go for dinner tomorrow night. Somehow the soup gets out of control and turns very big. It smells delicious, but we don’t know how we will eat it all before we leave here. We will have one more night here at Foley’s Creek and tomorrow we plan to go explore the town of Nelson. Our next two nights will be at an accommodation without cooking facilities, so we must eat all our perishable food tomorrow, or lose it, as we will be unable to take it with us.

I should mention that this house has a mouse. The little critter was taunting us during dinner last night then disappeared under a sofa. We clever humans left an outside door open a crack (thus allowing a battalion of moths in) and put some PB on bread outside as bait. Then, at Dianne’s insistence, we armed ourselves with mop, broom and brushes and waited for the creature to show, whereupon we would encourage him to leave using our high tech weapons of mouse destruction. Ed further armed himself with a headlamp and multiple flashlights. We didn’t see that mouse again. We presumed he snuck out some little mousehole, probably laughing all the way.

Saturday morning is bright and clear. As Colleen has written, Dianne made a very large potful of barley soup last night. So for breakfast this morning, it’s barley soup. Dianne says, “Think of it as oatmeal, with mushrooms, carrots and onion”. Ed comments that we will become “moresoupials’ if we eat that whole pot. Our next three meals here will be barley, barley, barley.

We are all a bit tired today after our hiking adventure yesterday. It was “fun” but the uphill sections were more difficult than we anticipated, and more numerous than the “pretty level” trail the reservation maker described. We made it through, and the return cruise on the taxi was very nice, giving us panoramic views of the coastline with it’s numerous bays and beaches. We have planned an easier day today, exploring the city of Nelson, known as the sunniest place on the South Island and home of the geographic center of the country. The drive takes about an hour and is a little disorienting as we get to the city center and see more cars and people than we have seen in the past two weeks. Many have come to the Saturday Market, as have we, anticipating a sampling of arts, crafts, food and other cultural goodies.

We make some souvenir purchases and search for food. The hot pies are good, but not as good as Miles in Te Anau. Dianne is charmed by the didgeridoo player and buys two of his CD’s. Afterward we walk around the city and soak up some local atmosphere, but do not find any art galleries in this part of town. A bit later on, we stop at a fish and chips place for some takeaway which we bring to Nelson Park and Botanic Garden for a picnic lunch. This just happens to be the location of the monument marking the geographic center of New Zealand, which also happens to be at the top of a hill. We must see this place, so we starting climbing, all uphill, wheezing and swearing. We reach the top of the hill, with it’s marker and wonderful 360 degree view of Nelson, the Tasman Bay and a river that runs through the city and out into a pretty valley. On the trek uphill, Dianne has lost the little plastic piece on her sunglasses that protects her nose, also known as a “fnort”. We go down the hill in search of the “fnort” to no avail.

After a dinner of barley soup (what else?) tricked out with a little vegemite and green salad, we begin repacking in preparation for the next days drive to Picton in the Marlborough Sound area. Our next accommodation is at a resort called Lochmara Lodge, on the Marlborough Sound and will require a water taxi ride from Picton across the Queen Charlotte Channel. We are looking forward to another interesting day.