We arrived at our campsite late on Wenesday and set up camp in the dark (after about 4.5 hours of driving) at a place called Nelson Lakes, and then spent a long time star gazing. There were so many shooting stars incredible. I woek up the earliest and went for a walk, and was soon joined by Sharon. The mist curled over the mountains in the most incredible way, and everything was so still and peaceful. Words and pictures cannot describe anything from the weekend, nothing does it justice at all.
Later we went on to Nelson and visited the jeweller where the one ring for LOTR was made, it wasn't overly exciting to be honest! We then tried to find a campsite that night, which was a bit of a mission... We drove about 15km (I think) out of our way, and were halfway to the site we were going to and then decided it was too far, and turned back to another one. This one happened to be along 11km of the most ghetto dirt track ever, parts of it were taken straight from a horror movie. It took around 35 minutes to go this 11km... Our rental cars were not feeling the love that night!
In the morning we got up early to get to the start of the Abel Tasman track. Abel Tasman was the first European to reach NZ, but never made it ashore due to the Maori not wanting them there so could not claim it for Holland (and we got it, woop!). We had to get a water taxi to the start, which took around two hours. Our boat driver was awesome, we stopped a lot for him to show us tihngs such as split apple rock, a seal isalnd and penguins. When we arrived it was literally like stepping onto a desert island. Beautiful golden sands, clear skies and seas, I just can't convery how incredible it was!
We walked for a fair while that day through jungle and across beach. At one point we had a water crossing which we could only do at low tide, so a relaxing wait ensued for a few hours. I went wandering by myself for a bit and had a beach to myself with no other human insight, it was wonderful. There were also hundreds of crabs all over the shore which were interesting. I also found a whole urchin shell which I'm stoked about.
That night we set up camp at a designated campsite and star gazed again. We treid to find the southern cross which was in a different place according to who you listened too...
The next day was more of the same, breathtaking scenery at every turn. We stopped part way the second day at a natural pool called Cleopatra's pool which also had a natural water slide - good times! The tramp was around 24 miles total I think, and one of the most amazing hikes of my life.
I've started keeping a notebook on me, and its now getting filled with thoughts, drawings and the like, and a lot are from here (so far). If anyone wants to see these when I'm back please don't hesitate to ask, I'm pretty happy with most of it, even though my art is not quite the best!
After the trail we had an amazing burger and I skated a fair way by myself. The idea was that the cars would catch up with me and pick me up, and about 10 minutes later Sharon's car drew up and asked if I had the key to the other car in my pocket, which I did. They wern't overly happy with that... The car ride after that was awesome, Jon, Brady, Luke and I had the funniest drive ever, full of car games and masses of banter.
Saturday night was spent at another campsite, but more towads the east coast, and Sunday was taken up with the drive home. We also had a look around Picton, one of the larger towns on the south island. It was pretty small and quaint. On the drive back we stopped at a beach which had really dark sand due to volcanic activity, was really different and interesting.
Over the four day trip I swam at least once every day, and on the first three days I got a swim in (always by myself, no-one else wanted to join this early) before breakfast. Life is AWESOME.
Theres three pictures below, there are no best ones so I just picked three of the ncier ones at random. Theres some more on my facebook if anyone wants to see more.
On Friday I'm off for three weeks to travel around the south island, taking in the Routeburn and Stewart Island tracks, Queenstown, Milford Sound, the glaciers, Mt. Cook, Lake Tekapo and wherever else we end up. I'll write more on the road if I get a chance, if not, catch you in a few weeks!
Love,
Rob x
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