Abel Tasman Coastal Track
Trip Start
Nov 02, 2006
1
32
54
Trip End
Ongoing
Nelson,
New Zealand
Monday, February 12, 2007
park, walking the Coastal Track. I caught the bus from Nelson to
Marahau ($32 return) and then walked the track up and down - which is
51km times two, so 102km total in 3 days ;-).
I went at this on a real lightweight kick - carrying my light
sleeping bag (~600g) and my Bivi. All other kit was kept to a minimum
and I lived off Nuts, dried fruit and chocolate in the main, plus some
pepperoni, cheese and crackers. I left the SLR at home and did not take
a cooker. The upshot of this was a pack weight of around 6-7kg and much
improved range. I also got away with not carrying a stove, and wore
trainers.
Day 1 - 35km
Started at 9am from the trail head, and spent an enjoyable day tramping
though the fantastic scenery. The weather stayed a little overcast
after early rain, which kept the temp down and helped matters. I missed
low tide on the first 2 crossings of estuary's, which added a few more
k's on, but no real problems. Both main tidal crossings were pretty
easy - only coming up to the top of my thighs. I camped at a site with
a few others who had kayaked in, and we lit a fire.
Day 2 - 42km
Today was meant to be 35km, but I decided not to skip the end of the
track and went for it ;-). I made it across the tidal crossing at Arowa
at 9pm just in time to see the last of daylight. The next 2 hours of
night hiking were pretty crazy - I came round a corner to find 2 yellow
eyes watching me and nearly had a heart attack! It turned out to be a
Possum, which climbed a tree and glared at me. I saw another 8 - its
easy to get within 2 feet of them at times before you spot them. I
camped at a site 1km early as I had had enough.
Day 3 - 25km
An easy walk out to the bus - weather was still good but not too hot.
Made it for the earlier bus and slept back to town, where I had a
McDonalds.
