Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!

As Francesca finished our last post and finalized uploading our pictures, I brought our bags down to the Ferry terminal. This is where we would be picked up by the Stray bus, off to Abel Tasman National Park. I unloaded Lynne’s car and talked to her for a bit as the ferry arrived. Not long after the people started pouring off and I saw one of them walking towards the Stray bus. Also, a bunch of backpackers huddled up together, waiting for the driver to bring the vehicle over. As the bus pulled up, Francesca walked down the hill from Tombstone Backpackers. I put the bags in the back, whilst my companion found a good seat for us. Our driver made one more stop in Picton, and we ended up with 22 people on our bus. Goodbye Picton!

Our driver introduced himself as B.P. and talked to us about the plan of attack for the day. He told us about the different activities in Motueka and Marahau, on our way to our final destination for the day. Some people had apparently missed out on their skydives and still wanted to jump. There was also an option to fly your own stunt-plane. Marahau, the little village that functions as a gateway to Abel Tasman National Park, could offer us kayaking, sailing and obviously, hiking. Since Abel is one of the mandatory 2-night-stays on the Stray circuit we had the day to decide what to do the next day. Francesca and I got quite excited about kayaking and sailing, but didn’t choose definitively yet.

Our first stop for the day was a little café, where Francesca and I shared a hot chocolate. We also built a tower of sugar-packets, which I’m sure the owners were really pleased with. When we got back on the bus B.P. forced us to do some ‘speed-dating.’ He explained that we’d most likely be on the bus together for quite a few days, so we’d best get to know each other. I stood up and talked to some people, whilst Francesca stayed put and had some fellow travelers come sit next to her. We both talked to a British couple that had just come from Thailand, so we scored some information about said country. They shared how cheap hotels, traveling and activities are there. We both got quite excited!

Next, we pulled up in Nelson. We dropped off one of person, and quickly sped off again. The weather looked good, so the skydivers were looking thrilled. B.P. called the company, and sure enough, they got the go-ahead. B.P. took the bus to Motueka, a smaller town further down to the South. He dropped off 4 jumpers and 1 stunt-plane-flier and took the rest of us to a supermarket stop. In the mean time Francesca and I had signed up for half-day sailing (walking 4 hours into the park, then sailing back) and a big Kiwi BBQ organized by B.P. that night.

We picked up some food at the supermarket and spent a little bit of time walking around in Motueka. After an hour B.P. opened up the bus again and we headed for Marahau. He told us the worst news of the day at that point: Barrytown, the next stop on the circuit had been canceled due to an ‘incident.’ I was quite sad about this because I stayed a week in Barrytown last time waiting for my sister to catch up with me. I worked for the family that ran the hotel back then and painted the whole building. Anyway, after a short drive we made it to ‘The Barn.’ Francesca and I grabbed our bags and found a comfortable double room with a soft bed ready for us.

After lying down for a while we heard a voice from downstairs: “Dinner’s ready!” Francesca knew there were going to be chicken legs, sausages and chips, so she raced downstairs. We both got a nice plate full and filled our hungry stomachs. Again, being quite tired after such a hefty meal, we aimed for our bed and relaxed for a while. I walked downstairs to check what time we had to get up for the sailing. The owner of the sailboat was talking to B.P. and I found out that the trip had been canceled due to a lack of people. Sad! I told Francesca the bad news and we decided we’d go for a hike instead. I set the alarm for 8:30AM and dreams soon had us both captivated.

The next morning saw us getting ready for another long hike. Since we did not want to waste money on a water-taxi back we decided to walk up to Anchorage and back. Another 24.8 kilometers (15.5 miles) of walking! We had a nice little breakfast and made lunch for later that day. Francesca has now officially taken control of my eating habits, cutting down my cheese usage drastically. We’ve both been losing some weight, but I want to keep going, so this will be a good help. It took us a good hour to get ready, but close to 10:00AM we were both ready to go. The starting point was just a little down the road, with an information kiosk as the gate to the park. 10:00AM sharp the hike started.

Our first steps on the track were on a boardwalk. Since the tide comes up pretty high here the park also has to cater for those starting/coming back during high tide. We started during low tide though, so there were no water issues for us. The first half an hour saw us walking up through dense forest with a lot of creeks, gullies, waterfalls, bridges and gulches. I found it quite astonishing they had found names for every single one! Francesca spotted a large, black rabbit, which she thought would be look well on a plate. We also saw our first ‘golden beaches,’ something Abel Tasman National Park is famous for. We decided not to walk down to them yet, but to get to Anchorage first, checking out the viewpoints and beaches on the way back.

The hike never got too tiresome, even though it had a slight incline throughout the whole walk. Pretty much all along the track we were able to see the sea on our right side. Sometimes the track would take us a tad closer to it, other times it meandered further into the bush and into deep, dark forest. Around 12:45PM we found ourselves just above Anchorage, with only a steep walk down to sea level left. Before going down we read information about the formation of the ‘golden beaches’ out loud together:

WHY ARE THE BEACHES GOLDEN?
Granite is commonly a whitish rock with minerals of glass-like quartz, creamy-coloured feldspar and black flakes of mica. Where weathering has been intense, iron compounds have penetrated to stain the rocks a reddish brown. Wave, wind and river action reduces the weathered granite to coarse, golden sand.

Another 30 minutes of walking took us all the way down to the beach. A picnic table or two and a hut from the Department of Conservation (the same hut I stayed at when I did my 3-day-hike many years ago!) were all we found. We set up camp (unpacked our bag) and grabbed our lunch. Being pretty hungry, Francesca and I ate our sandwiches and drank our PowerAde, throwing some crumbs around for the wildlife and enjoyed a few rays of sunshine. After walking for well over three hours the meal tasted well.

The disadvantage of walking in Abel Tasman without completing the whole thing is that you have to walk back the same way you came. Thus we set off again, this time climbing the steep track up. We pretty much marched up the hill though, and saw the lake and sea in the background disappearing in the distance below us. Coming to the top, we followed a path that led to a lookout. A sign told us that it wasn’t Abel Tasman, or even James Cook that first set foot on this land. No, it was a French explorer by the name of d’Urville that first made contact with the local Maori. We overlooked the bay that he once was so excited about visiting. Pretty cool to see some paintings of his expedition’s artist!

The educational reading was followed by more hiking, this time with a comfortable decline towards Marahau. The track showed us a prime example of the quartz that made the beaches so golden. We ran down to Yellow Point Lookout, which at the end stopped being a trail, turning into a climb over a bunch of rock-formations. The view wasn’t that great, being obscured by trees, so Francesca and I hiked back up to the main track.

Our next stop was Stillwell Bay. We contemplated the name whilst descending to the beach front. After crossing a bunch of rocks we made it onto the beach. Francesca wrote in the sand and I found a private dwelling. It must be amazing living there, so secluded, with your own beach and park as your front- and back garden. Unfortunately, there was no path up on the other side of the beach, so we had to turn back and climb up the same way we came down. Monkey and Puppy finally got to see the light of day again and posed for us as they chilled on the sand.

Continuing onwards I spotted a bird on a beach further down low. A penguin maybe? I took a few pictures with our camera, and now we’re still not sure… Any ornithologists amongst our readers? Around 17:00 we were back on the boardwalk and another 25 kilometer hike was over.

Before heading back to the hostel Francesca and I checked out ‘Arts Unique,’ a cool gallery of woodcarvings. Being pretty tired, I took a few snapshots, but quickly left the wooden statues behind. I had a rewarding shower and made Francesca some burgers. Our sleep was more than satisfying.

The following morning had us leaving Marahau behind. Francesca made me some breakfast whilst I moved our bags to the bus. A long day of driving ahead of us, B.P. wanted to leave early and make good time. We made a few stops along the way, but the weather was pretty bad, so mostly we jumped in the bus as fast as we got out.

The most notable things on the way were:

- Passing through 3 different National Parks in one day.

- Reaching the rugged West-Coast.

- Seeing a seal colony and taking pictures of them.

- Seeing Pancake Rocks; weirdly flat stacked layers of rock formed by nature that still pose a mystery for scientists.

The bus reached Greymouth around 17:30 and we checking into a hostel called Global Village. The hostel has an international tune to it, with different religions and exotic countries as the theme for the various rooms. Our room had an African theme, with some cool matching carvings, wall cloths and even lamps and sheets.

Today we’re headed for Franz Josef, where we’ve got big plans. Francesca will tell you about all of that later!