That’s
36 day
846 hours
51840 minutes
3110400 seconds
Of break. And because my classes are awesome, I had no work due during or right after this break. Adventures here I come. And adventures I did have.
The day after finals, April 2, Jon, Stephan, Juli, Damon and I left bright and early to go pick up the two cars we somehow managed to rent at the last minute. When we got back and had finished packing the car, Damon realized that he had somehow misplaced the keys. This was really surprising because he usually keeps track of things really well, but they were nowhere to be found. Not in the tiny strip of grass between the car and his building, not in the barren stairwell nor in his immaculately cleaned room. They were nowhere. As I was searching my flat for the 3rd time, I heard a shout. Damon found them... in the key lock of the trunk. Haha. So after that miss-hap we were off!
The drive was pretty nice, your basic crazy amazing New Zealand landscape that will never get old. We switched half way through driving and I got to drive for the first time! Driving on the left wasn’t too hard to get used to. We all kept hugging the left shoulder, but for the most part it was easy. But how could I mess up with Damon shouting KEEP LEFT every time I turned. It was a pre-emptive measure that was fail proof.
When we arrived at Nelson Lakes, we just explored for awhile and looked at some trail we could do the next day while we waited for Max (we met at the beginning of my NZ adventure in Auckland, he goes to Victoria in Wellington). Jon and Steven decided they were going to ‘quickly’ climb a mountain to a hut that day. So while the other ladies drove them to the trail head, Cameron Damon and I explored for a place to camp.
We found a recreation area outside of town that was next to some logging land. There was a nice little trail of sorts that lead to a clearing that was perfect for camping. We went back and waited for the girls while we laid around in the grass by Nelson Lake which was absolutely beautiful. When we took them to our campsite for the night, there as a little worry, but Cam said we’d be fine.
Oh, something to note, we were short a tent. As it was, we were putting 3 people in each two person tent that we had. So we had to find somewhere to put the 3 people that were left over. Thankfully Max wasn’t there so we had time to figure that out. Damon and really had no choice but either sleep outside or in the car. We picked car. There was a lot of dead branches laying around though, I got the idea to build a lean-to. And Damon went along with it! I have to say that it was a pretty awesome lean-to. When we woke up the next morning, the tents were covered in dew and their sleeping bags slightly damp, but not us! Brilliant.
Back at Nelson Lake we decided upon the lake trail. It went around Nelson Lake and was suppose to take 5 hours. That was perfect timing to come back and find Max and the guys. The hike was pretty good. Really easy, nice and flat with great views of the lake. The forest was much more lush than what we were used to down in the Chch area. We would stop and skip rocks, watch swans swim and the clouds lazily float around. The sun was warm, water cool and the breeze light. A perfect day indeed. When we stopped for lunch, Damon had fun throwing huge rocks into the lake so we could see the rainbows in the spray. We were pretty sure that the family down the beach from us thought he was ‘our special friend’. Haha. We loved it.
After about 3 hours of leisurely hiking with some jogging, we got to a hut where there were some older people, prolly around their late 50’s sitting after hiking. Of course we talked with them and they asked where we were going. We told them we were doing the lake loop and they said ‘you’re planning on making it before evening? You know there’s a river crossing too, about up to your waists’. We all sort of just stared. We were definitely banking on making it back within the 2 hours that we had left. So now we had 2 hours, to do what took us 3 hours. And with our goodbyes, we started to jog away. We pretty much power walked/jogged/ran the whole way back. And yes, we made it in under 2 hours! Either we were walking really slow at first, or we were moving really fast for the second part. Either way we were tired.
We met up with Max no problem and found the guys safe and happy after their summit. For dinner we grabbed some fish and chips and then we set off for camp. Sad days though, there was rain in the forecast that night. But luckily Max had some traps just in case. So we fortified our lean-to with tarps and it did the trick. As we were snuggling into our roomy lean-to, I looked up and saw a crazy HUGE bug. I said, we need to get out! Bug! And grabbed Damon by the shoulder and ran out. That was seriously the biggest bug ever. It turned out to be a Weta, which are the biggest insects by mass in the world. And there was a species of that big bug 6 inches away from my FACE.
After a night of absolute terror and killing giant cave crickets, okay, there weren’t any more cave crickets... but it did rain a little, we woke up early to head off to the Abel Tasman! Everyone was super pumped and the drive wasn’t bad or very long at all. The plan was to get into town, find a grocery store to stock up at and then hit the trail. But there was one small problem... it was Easter Sunday and that means that pretty much all the stores were closed. Luckily though we found a farmer’s market and the Asian food store that were open. That was good enough for me and the others.
There were a lot of people at the trail head. It was a good start though, walking on a boardwalk through the estuary. IT was cool because people wrote messages with rocks in the shallow waters. There were messages like ‘Jack loves Sally’, ‘Happy Birthday’, ‘Will you Marry Me’, ‘ Happy Mother’s Day’, stuff like that. Some people found their names written out, but no such luck for me.
Once we left the bay area, we walked into a pretty neat forested area. It was so much lusher than the Canterbury Plains. So many ferns and palms. We were headed to our first camp site, Anchorage Campsite. We all had a good laughs that we were going to Alaska. It was about a 4ish hour hike. We wished we could have taken our time with our first day on the trail, but we needed to go at a strong pace to get to the site before dusk and what looked like impending rain. Most of the trails were in the trees and bush, but every so often we would walk into a clearing area that allowed us to see the surrounding hills, beaches and bays. It was really neat. At one point when we were along the ridge line, we all swore that we were in Jurassic Park. No lie, with the tropical trees, huge mountains and beaches, I was ready to see a Pterodactyl or a Brontosaurus just looming around the bend. We even ran into some people who were on the same mind set of us with the Jurassic Park idea and were trying to figure out the theme song to the movies. We were thankfully abelto help them out.
The campsite was mad crowded! So many people in one area, like a tent city or something. And many of these people were camping in luxury. I walked past a family who had steaks, a propane grill, wine glasses, the whole nine yards! I was trying to figure out how in the world a couple and their two small kids brought all of these luxuries down a 4 hour hike! The forest may have secretes, but readers, I am abelto read the forest’s subtle hints to uncover the mysteries! And have no fear, for I know that you long to know as I did, how these people bring all of these amazing stuff!? All shall be revealed dear, dear reader.
After a delisious dinner of Mei Gorange instant noodle dinner, avocado and capsicum (bell pepper) some of us went for a walk down to see the beach. And what did we find? But a bay full of boats! And yes, that was the answer, people sail their boats there and chill for the night. Cheaters. Down at the edge of the bay, there was a natural wall of rocks. It was incredible because there were names and dates carved into the rocks. Not in the same fashion as earlier in the day, but rather older, like names of ships and dates that first landed there! It was really surreal to touch something that had been there for a very long time and think about what New Zealand was like when people first landed. Before the hills had been burned for grazing, before sheep peppered the hills and house were built up. I mean, New Zealand is beautiful now, imagine what it was like before the Europeans got here. Very cool. After a little free lance climbing we walked back to sit around, play some cards, tell some stories, play some music all while the sun set.
Sometime after that, a few others returned with tales of a cave! A cave of wonders! Not the same as Aladdin’s cave filled with jewels, but a natural gift of... GLOW WORMS! Woot! Glow worms are little worms that have natural floceflouresence and just chill on the roof of caves. Bu t Jon told us how when they crawled into the cave and turned their lights on, the ceilng was covered in HUGE weta. Heaps of them. So when we walked back you can imagine after my battle the night before with the weta, I was not to keen on entering the cave fully. But was quite content to stay a bit further out of the tiny bit and see the glow worms. It was so neat. You would just stand in this nearly pitch black cave entrance and just look up and see dozens of tiny pin pricks of greenish light that look like stars. And you blink a few times, try to focus, and you feel like you’re looking up into an alien sky filled with strange green stars but you realize that you’re in a cave and these are little animals chilling, clinging to the ceiling. Not stars. No matter how much you look, they never get old to look at either. Very magical looking. Apparently the inner cave was even more amazing, but I really just couldn’t overcome my recent weta trauma.
When we walked back it was completely night and like the glow worms, the boats bobbing in the bay looked like more stars that were closer to earth. And it was so neat because the sky was filled with stars, so many stars. That paired with the boats in the bay and the glow worms in the cave was just a neat experience.
That night was our first night in the tarp tent. And as all things go, they only get better with time and experience. That is a kind way of saying our first tarp tent was crap. We only had two tarps, one for the roof and the other for the floor. The way we tied and staked it, it was pretty questionabellooking for sure. I’m sure we were the laughing stock of the camp site... but we were fine with it. At one point when I was laying out my sleeping bag, I saw a guy starring at us in the tarp tent with a look saying something like “wow, what armatures. Sleeping under a tent, what city did they walk out of! Phsa!” Boy did I stare him down. A good minute or two until finally he was scared and stalked away defeated in the staring contest into his tent. Win for the tarp tent!
With two other guys in the tent, and me on the outside, I would get pushed out of the tarped area quite a bit. I would have to say that Damon stole part of my sleeping bag pad. But overall, not to bad a night. At least it didn’t rain. We woke up nice and early the next day. It was going to be a long day (about 8 hours) I believe. We left without breakfast because we had to do a low tide crossing. If we missed it there would be no way that we could make it to our next site by night fall. We were off and moving around 7 am. I really wish I was more of a morning person, because I love waking up early and seeing the world come about, the sun rise, the animals start to explore. Its fun. The bay crossing was most definitely over romanticized in my mind. Instead of exciting sand flats, it was boring smelly sticky mud flats. I don’t know what I was thinking, honestly I should have known better, but hey. After we did that crossing we sat and had breakfast on a beach watching the sun come up a bit more. Then off we went.
I wish there was more that I could talk about during the day. But honestly the trail could have just been a huge circle because it was all the same. Ferns, palms, trees, ferns, palms, tress. There would be the occasional hill that would be a touch of a challenge with my pack filled up, but nothing I couldn’t handle. There were some amazing look outs onto bays or the ocean or a bay. All very picturesque. But you couldn’t really stop for long... or else they would come... What would come you ask... sandflies. I cannot recall whether or not I have mentioned these little buggers yet, but if I have not, here we go. These are tiny little flies that bite and suck blood. Similar to mosquitoes but heaps worse. They are relentless, bite multiple times, you actually really feel them (like it hurts!) when they bite you, and the bites itch for a good 2 weeks. Sometimes with mosquito bites, when you scratch them away and you just have an area of raw skin, they’ll stop itching. But not so with sandfly bites. Those bites will itch for what seems like ever. UGGGG. They are awful. I will never ever be angry at mosquitoes ever again.
When we finally got to the site, I was so happy. We all just sat right down. I didn’t even have the energy to take my heavy as pack off. When I finally got up it was the weirdest feeling! I felt like I weighed nothing, almost like floating. I mean, I hadn’t really taken my pack off all day and we had been walking solid since the morning. I’m pretty sure that my child was the same weight of a 2nd grader. So I guess you could say that I am now capabelof carrying a kid on my back up a mountain! Awesome!
This night we stayed at the Awaroa campsite. It was great because while we were setting up camp, we ran into Damon’s roommate and her friends who were also doing the AbelTasman. But they were only passing through and were going to a different site. They stayed here to wait for the tide to go out, by doing the low tide crossing you essentially cut off about 2 hours of hiking! In my humble opinion, this night’s tarp tent was the best! And this is a very good thing because that night it rained cats. Not cats and dogs, just cats. I woke up the day nice and dry!
This next day was a pretty easy hike, only a few hours to Anapi Bay site. We got there fairly early as you can imagine which left a lot of time to explore the area. Unfortunately it was way too cold to swim in the ocean. I, along with others, were pretty bummed out about this. To be honest, I haven’t done much swimming at all here. The campsite was really neat, it was in this grove of umbrella like trees that formed a pretty neat canopy. This was an excellent place for the tarp tent because there were a lot of places to tie the tarps down :D
Down the beach there were a bunch of rock faces along the shore. Within a crack cave, there was this awesome little blue penguin hiding! These are the smallest penguins in the world, and as I am led to be believe, are endangered. He was pretty cool, I wish I could have gotten closer of course, but we kept our distance. I am also sad to say that I didn’t really get a stellar picture. I know, I know. I’m an ecologist and I should have taken the coolest picture... but it was dark and the light was bad and we didn’t want to use a flash and hurt/scare the little guy.
Back at the campsite, Cameron, Damon Max and I played some spades. While we were sitting there, we heard a rustling in the bush. We looked, what could it be? And the gasp! Out from the bush out sprang a chicken! Nah, I’m kidding, it wasn’t a chicken. It was actually a Weka, not to be confused with Weta. Wekas are larger, chicken sized birds with dense legs and beaks that are super curious. He was weary of us at first, but quicly figured out that there were many tasty sandwich crumbs to be eaten around our feet. The cheeky little fellow even pecked at Damon’s toes! When we weren’t looking the bird even ran over and tried to steal a bag of chips. Crazy bird. The night was filed with cards, music, dancing and games. It may have been my favourite night on the trail.
The next day, Jon and Stephen woke up quite early and headed out. The unfortunate thing about the Abel Tasman is that the trail dumps you out 2 hours drive through the mountains away from where you left your car. But luckily there are buses that you can take back to you car for the low prices of $50 a person! Or you can take a boat taxi for $60. Yea... we are cheap. So those two headed out early so that we could come back and meet them at the end of the trail ready to go. Brilliant!
We finished the trail up in awesome time, about 3 easy hours. The area where we finished is called Golden Bay, and was quite lovely. Which was a good thing, because we had a long time to wait. But we didn’t know this at the time. For some reason we were having a lot of trouble getting a hold of the boys. When we finally did, we found out that the bus in fact did not drop us off where we intended and they had to hitchhike to our cars. A few hours later, when they finally came, we were all so excited!
On the way back we found out why it had taken so long, the road was super crazy. I’m talking crazy twists and turns up and down the moutnaints with scary as pin turns where huge 18 wheelers would meet you almost crashing. Terrifying. For a majority of the ride I was certain that this would be the car ride in which I finally lost my cookies. Oh man, it was bad. I almost kissed the ground when we arrived 2 hours later.
We paused only momentarily in Motueka where we ate dinner and what not before we went to Nelson to find a place to crash. It was pretty easy to find somewhere because they allow free camping everywhere! Whoo! We ended up in a park. It’s ironic because last year, I joked with Brain (who was in the North Island studying) when he told me how he slept in a park, but here I was doing the same thing. The next morning we drove around for a little and visited the jeweller who created the rings for the Lord of the Rings movies. That was pretty awesome! But we couldn’t stay long, that day we had to drive to Picton to drop Max off.
On the way back to Christchurch, we drove through Kaikoura to drop Stephen and myself off for biolab. It was great, we got there a day early, but they gave us an apartment on site and some food! It was great. The lab was pretty fun as well. We did plankton counts and identification (yay plankton!), tide pool collections, hermit crab studies and a bunch of other stuff. Then at the end we had to make up our own experiment. My group decided to look at limpets. Limpets are snails that have shells that look like volcanoes. These little guys pretty much live in one spot their entire life, and even create a dent in the rocks the live on. So we looked at whether or not the distance away from the ocean determined how big they were. And it did! But it depends on what species you look at because whether they are breeding or not makes a difference.
So over all, the first week of break was great.
Abel Tasman: A good engineers Great Walk, but over all pretty average because all of the sights were the same. But walking 32 miles feels really really awesome when you’re done!
Bio Lab: Super awesome to learn about the sea life that is around New Zealand and really reinforces that being an ecologist is what I want to do!
Not enough pictures for you? Click here for more photographic fun!
How fun. You are creating memories for a lifetime. Looking forward to reading some 'scientific' blog postings about your bio lab.
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