Abel Tasman October 2005

Hannah — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 23:22:09 GMT

Abel Tasman October 2005 - Warning Girly Trip Follows

by Annabel Beattie

It all began one Monday morning on the Kaitiaki in the middle of Wellington harbour amidst pouring rain. Our dream girly trip - booze, beautiful beaches and no boys - had just begun. Then someone who shall remain nameless realised what that niggly feeling that they’d forgotten something was. Their boots!!! The ultimate thing to remember when you go tramping (I suppose your pack is probably a key ingredient too though). Cruisy as the Abel Tasman sounded, a week of walking in sandals was not particularly appealing. It all looked ominous until we realised it was the perfect excuse to buy new shoes in Nelson!!! What else are girly trips for anyway?

With new, flash-looking shoes stowed safely in the car, stomachs full of KFC and Madonna pumping out the stereo, we turned up at the Marahau carpark. We all donned our tramping finery and set off to Apple Tree Bay (a destination we had selected purely because the name sounded cute). After an hour and a half (none of this go hard or go home rubbish) we arrived and set up. I texted a few people, boasting of our picturesque location on the beach (not mentioning the choice was between that and a swamp), eating dinner by candlelight (not mentioning it was only cause it was that or bleary torchlight) and sipping on cider.

The next day, after a wake-up swim, we set off to Medlands Beach. We alternated walking with lying on the beach and going “ooh, isn’t it pretty?” We discussed important world-changing issues, such as the merits of having two cellphones and what we planned to buy shopping in Australia.

Our arrival at the particular beautiful beach we were heading for was heralded by the rather spunky DOC ranger who checked we’d paid etc. and then left us in our girly solitude. We cranked out the strawberry schnapps and red wine then set about dinner. Hitch: stove would not light. We established the fact that it was not working because we couldn’t turn the pump, but try as we might we could not get it going.

In desperation, Julia and I missioned off to the nearby hut to see if anyone there could help. Unfortunately, the only English being spoken there was our cursing and we sunk to the level of going on to the ranger’s hut. When we explained our predicament he asked if we’d pumped the stove (looking at us rather like a guy does when he thinks he’s talking about something only guys know about). We replied that was part of the problem and handed it over. He simply touched it and it turned and began pumping. I then made the fatal mistake of saying “oh, it really did just need a guy’s touch.” He looked at us smugly with that look guys have when they know they know something only guys know about. Sigh. We trudged back to the campsite and ate, drank and went to bed.

The next morning it was off to Awaroa campsite. Once again, a beautiful day with beautiful beaches. This day had been purposely planned to be really short because it contained the biggest hill of the walk (a whole 200 metres). As such, we passed even more time lying around on the beach. We congratulated ourselves heartily on reaching the top of the hill (even halfway down, we kept thinking there would be more) and celebrated with the rest of the wine on arrival at the campsite. Keely treated us to an astronomy lesson that night and we stood for ages watching shooting stars.

The next morning we knew it was getting bad when Keely burst out with “I hope the water taxi driver’s hot”. After lying around on Totaranui Beach for a couple of hours the stated male turned up. Much to Keely’s disgust, he didn’t meet requirements. He drove us back to Marahau, picking up daywalkers along the way who looked at our packs in awe. We tried not to laugh at some of them, particularly the fully made-up lady wearing a short bright pink skirt and heels.

We overnighted in Nelson, having a much lusted-after steak and beer at the pub. We then headed back to Picton the next day, singing along to the Spice Girls. It was a bit sad leaving such a beautiful part of New Zealand to go home to a week of study for a physics exam! (well that was the plan anyway) But what better way to spend study leave!

Trip Reports

Abel Tasman October 2005