new zealand: week three

On my third week, I set off on the more unknown part of my voyage, a big loop around New Zealand’s South Island. From here, I’m just planning as I go so it’s been fun to see where the journey takes me. I started off traveling with a new friend from Christchurch up to Nelson, where we stayed in a super nice hostel (Prince Albert) that gave us free bike and disc golf rentals. We rode over to Stoke and its famous McCashins Brewery and played the front nine of their local course. It was so nice to stretch the legs on a bike! Later that day we stocked up at the store and headed to Marahau, the trailhead town of the Abel Tasman track. I’ve been loving all the roadside produce boxes that people set up at the end of their driveways. We scored on some yummy Nashi pears in Motueka en route.

At Marahau, I continued pioneering New Zealand llama tourism by staying at Old McDonald’s Farm, which had a small her of about 10 llamas. The two males kept in a separate pen were not very happy about their quarantine as they could see the girls in the paddock west of them. It was kinda sad, kinda cute to hear their humming as they hugged the fence line just swooning over the girls. The farm also had some of the prettiest-coated cows I’ve ever seen. They were practically shining. Backpacker accommodation at Old McDonald’s is really great: small little 3-bed huts and outdoor kitchens scattered throughout different sections of the property. This place has a few years on it, but is super well maintained and tidy.

We hiked the Abel Tasman from Marahau to Totaranui over 3 days and 2 nights (staying at Anchorage and Awaroa huts). The huts were extremely nice (sleeping around 32 people in bunks), especially the newer Anchorage Hut, which had great tall bunks and a beautiful kitchen/gathering space with a heated wood stove and motion sensor lighting. The Abel Tasman trail is very graded and mellow, especially on the first day to Anchorage Hut, though there are definitely some steep sections later on.

Our first and last days were easy, logging just over 10 km (6+ miles) each day. Our middle day was the big push, at 20km (12.4 miles). We woke up early to take a low-tide shortcut across the sand or else it would have added another couple miles to the day. Just north of Anchorage Hut on the beach, just as the sun was rising, we scoped out a glowworm cave and it was so magical… they lit up the cave walls like little stars in the night sky.

The Abel Tasman is really a cool trail, and it was fun to plot out the journey as there is the tides to deal with and one mandatory low-tide crossing just past Awaroa Hut; miss it and you have to wait half a day.

It was also fun to meet other travelers here, many Kiwis and mostly Europeans. We met a great gal, Liz from Paris, at the Anchorage Hut and she continued with us for the rest of our tramp, so you’ll spot her in most my photos along with Philip who I traveled up with from Christchurch.

Philip and I left Liz at Totaranui, where she continued north and we took a water taxi back to Marahau. We saw some fur seals at the Tonga Island Marine Reserve, and a funny highlight was how they take the water taxi boats out of the water back at Marahau: they hitch it up to a tractor that then puffs out smoke as it tugs you out of the water and down the road.

From Marahau, I headed down the West Coast but I’ll save that update for week 4 when I catch up with writing.