And the scenery gets better
Trip Start
Aug 14, 2008
1
4
20
Trip End
Sep 25, 2008
Maharau,
New Zealand
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Met the Stray bus from the ferry with a group who had been travelling together in the North Island and so were very chummy. This consisted of TJ (Dutch), Dan and Helen from Lancashire and Laura from London. Immediately the bus had a different feel - more sociable, more fun loving and more intense. As soon as I sat down TJ turned to me and said "So Rebecca, tell us about yourself!" and instead we played some 'getting to know you games', which started to make me feel slightly uncomfortable with the whole summer camp feel. I soon learned to love it though and was happy to be driving off to the west with such an enthusiastic and excited group.
We stopped at Hunters vineyards for some wine tasting, which cost less than one pound (7 wines...all good). A little later we stopped outside Nelson for some walks in the forest and although Thumper proposed we stayed there for lunch, I urger him to go on to Nelson as I wanted to have some time to see the town. As majority rules on Thumpers bus, and noone objected, we had 45 minutes in the town which seemed really cool. I walked straight to the art deco cathedral, which was very cool and unusual and had great views from its hill. For sightseeing, 45 minutes was sufficient in Nelson, and we picked up three more (2 german girls and a Japanese girl called Meeho who works for Stray in the office) and left.
Unlike the other tour companies, Stray doesn't stay in Nelson but instead stops in a little village called Maharau, on the closest point possible to the Abel Tasman National Park. We stopped at Makaroa (the nearest town) to stock up at the supermarket and then pooped by a skydiving convention, which had an afternoon of hundreds of skydives, which was cool to watch (something I probably wont see again) and kind of inspired me to get and do one when I reach the north island!
In Maharau, we stay on a farm, which has a number of small portacabin dorms and a main kitchen and common area. It's a very unique place and couldn't be closer to the National Park itself. Thumper cooked us all a barbeque, which was really tasty and nice to have a group meal. I signed up for a half day sailing trip for the following day with the idea that I could see the national park from two perspectives; from the ocean and from the land on the walk back. Spent the evening chatting to some of the group and watching a love affair unfold between the driver and one of the passengers!
Day 178 - Met the sailing guy this morning to go to Kaiteriteri beach to board our catamaran. It is built for 22 people, but as there was only 7 of us (not including Nick the skipper), we enjoyed lots of space on board. The weather was perfect - the sea calm and the sky clear, sun shining (which I think was very lucky as it's one of those landscapes that would look either great or not so great depending on the weather... we saw it at its best). There was a slight breeze so we could put the sails up on the ship - a nice novelty which made the trip worth while. It was lovely and peaceful on the water and we stopped to look at some small islands that are now bird reserves (having killed all the possums) and had the benefit of the seeing the coastline of the national park from the ocean - a perspective most people sticking to the land miss out on.
We stopped at Anchorage Bay (one of many golden beaches) and sat on the beach for lunch. Noone lives in the national park - not even horses are allowed in, so it's very unspoilt save a few holiday cottages that existed before it's designation. I then commenced the 3 - 4 hour, 11km walk back to Marahau. The only uphill was at the beginning of the walk up from Anchorage Bay, but the views from the top were incredible - one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen - turquoise water sparkling in the sun, all sorts of green forest on the land and postcard perfect views of islands. I was blown away and really thankful I went for the sailing trip, as otherwise I would have had to walk along the coast and would never have made it that far, before backtracking - this way was much more interesting and insightful.
The walk back was very nice (& easy) and at a viewpoint about halfway, I bumped into Dan and TJ, who had made it that far from the farm in the morning. So we all walked back together finding empty beaches and chatting - it was really good company and a really good day. Back at the farm we saw the tide on it's way out (a massive 4 metres difference, which is so dramatic).
