What a weekend. I was sure I did nothing. But no. Got up to lots. Thursday saw me and Mike out for Float after work. So good. Mike is sure he slept. It is very relaxing. Then we headed to Master Kong for tea. Mmmmm. Thank you Mike!
My photos are all messed up in the timeline. Be ready for a quantum leap through the weekend!
Thursday night we went to Float Well and enjoyed a double float. 1 hour in the pod was so nice. Then we went to Master Kong and had a delicious meal.
Dinner Thursday after Float
Master Kong
Home to bed!
Saturday afternoon saw Mike away for Survivor Night and me off to the rugby to watch Wellington Poua play Matatuu. I was fully expecting Matatuu to smash them. And that would have made me pretty happy as Matatuu is the southern wahine team. But no.
Rugby day!
I caught the 14 bus down nice and early. And sat in my Aisle 32 Row DD, Seat 152 very early to watch training. Then at 4.30 the game started. And Wellington was pretty much always on top. But it was a close, good game.
Training
Colder now
Despite it being nice in the morning and early afternoon, I got really cold sitting in the stands as the southerly change kicked in. But we stayed dry. Woot!
Caught the 14 bus home and was there by 19:00. Had some dinner and snuggled with the cats.
Moxley cuddled up
On the bus to visit Christine
Saturday morning saw Mike off to Upper Hutt for Park Run and me to Joe's Garage to catch up with Christine. Mike's plans to head to Wainuiomata from running did not pan out. So he came to Joe's Garage and we all caught up with Christine.
Run, Mike, Run
We heard about Tom and his gap year. And Tilly - her horse. And J3. If you know, you know.
Joe's Garage iced latte
Then home and to rugby (but due to the quantum nature of this blog post, I have covered that off above).
Sunday saw me without a car and it a bit tricky to carve out time to ride with Sally. Stink. I ended up staying at home and getting things done ahead of Mike's arrival back from surviving.
Monday iced latte
Tiny capsicum
Bobbly clouds
Birthday socks from Chelsea! Yippee!
Mike returned - he survived! - and then Wally came over and they dismantled the Subaru dashboard. It didn't take absolute ages. But it was tricky. We have a lot of video footage now - with swearing and inane conversation about our lives. Not sure it will be a YouTube sensation.
Sneak preview. THERE'S THE EVAPORATOR CORE, I CAN SEE IT
Andrew popped over on his way to collect his mother from Bluebridge. And we all chatted before Mike and I had some tea and watched some YouTube and went to bed.
Working from home again today. Checking if we have picked up covid. So far so good. We are doing our gym sessions with Quentin online. Like lockdown times. Hahah.
And there is cat content today! You lucky readers!
Home gym session
Me, Mike and Quentin on our phone
Cats are so close to each other. Hahahah
Smudge is such a sun worshipper
I did get out to my doctor's appointment yesterday. Didn't want to miss that as his books are so full and I missed the last one (not my fault - a mix up in their booking system). And he declared me good - no dodgy looking moles he could see. Next appt in 6 months. But he looked at my scar and it turns out the nurse left a stitch in there. Oh. Yuck!
Let's see what today holds in store. Mike tested negative again. Yippee.
Well, I took no photos yesterday. That is what happens when you come back from an awesome holiday and straight into work. Sorry - not even cat content.
Mike got home after a run after work and a train ride to Crofton Downs and a long walk back. He chatted to his mother before tucking into a late meal. I went to bed. He followed not too long after.
As we settled into bed, we got news from Stacey. She had woken with a snuffly nose and scratchy throat Tuesday morning. Tested herself and she has caught covid. Hopefully she shakes that off super easily. But we are watching our symptoms closely because everywhere Stacey has been, we have been right there with her.
Had the best sleep in a week! Yay!
Speaking of cats... I did wonder where Moxley was as we slept. She is usually on our bed. And because we are close contacts, we got to sleep in because we went online this morning (Wednesday) with Quentin. And I wandered upstairs 90 mins later than usual only to see Moxley shut outside on the deck. She'd been outside all night. And if cats could show a frown - she was totally doing that!
Anyway, we let her in and she is ingratiating herself with us. Probably in case we think she needs to get locked out there again. Poor wee cat!
Back at work - although working from home. Fantastic tramp on the Abel Tasman great walk. Absolutely beautiful part of Aotearoa. Maybe even - my favourite? Big call. Does it replace those golden tussock hills of central Otago? Well, if not it is a close thing.
Blog post of the tramp will be forthcoming. I took notes on all the days. :-)
Cats are happy I am WFH. And I am pleased the dirty washing pile is slowly reducing.
I see our car
Busy already at work. And the week ahead looks busy too. Oh well.
We had wonderful weather and the usual fantastic companions to tackle the Abel
Tasman Great Walk. Knocking this one off leaves only one more for Callan and
Stacey to do, and 2 more for Mike and 3 for me.
Out of all the Great Walks I have done so far this was by far the easiest
terrain. But that wasn't the only thing that made this one stand out from the
rest. The gorgeous weather and the accessibility of almost every part of this
track meant we encountered a constant stream of tourists and trampers
exploring this outstanding part of Aotearoa.
Wednesday Feb 28th - Wellington to Marahau
Callan and Stacey arrived at a very early hour at our house to move their gear
to our car and rooftop box, and park their lovely new car in our garage for
safe-keeping. Then down to Bluebridge for our early morning ferry over to the southern motu.
We had a cabin booked and chilled out in there for the bulk of our crossing.
We got to Blenheim and drove through the Z Picton car wash to get all the
encrusted salt off our car. Then stopped in at Catalyst cafe to get something
to eat and a quick run into PacknSav for some nibblies for the car. Then off
to our campsite accommodation in Marahau, via a supermarket run in Nelson for
provisions for the tramp.
We got to the campground at Marahau and found our allocated spot after
realising reception was actually back across the road from the camp site. Mike
and I took a while pitching our tent as we wanted to use duct tape to mend the
ground sheet holes. The ground sheet seemed to have more duct tape than ground
sheet by the time Mike had finished.
We went across the road for tea - to the
Hooked cafe/pub
and enjoyed a meal there. Then off to bed.
Thursday Feb 29 - Marahau to Anchorage Hut
Woke in tent early after a lovely sleep. Stumbled out to the bathroom for a
6.30am shower for me. $1 coin for 3 or 4 minutes of hot water. Mike was up
when I got back and we packed up quickly. Callan was working - talking to
various people on the phone. Yes, it was leap day and it meant a key system
for some payment terminals were not working across the entire country. He got
the right people involved so he could step away from the chaos and start our
tramp.
We left the tents up while we went back to Hooked cafe for brekkie. To give
them time to completely dry out ahead of getting packed away. At Hooked, I had
Turkish eggs. Very nice. Delicious way to start the tramp. Good iced latte
too.
After our lovely brekkie, we struck the tents. Bundled things into the rooftop
box so they were out of sight. And drove to car park about 500m down the road.
We coincided our start with a huge group of primary school aged kids on a wee
day walk. We got ready in the day shelter and then headed away by 9.50am. Car
was safely parked in the huge car park at the Great Walk entrance.
Ready to go!
The park was pumping. So busy. But we soon left the school kids behind. We had
a short tramp today - only 11km to Anchorage for our first overnight
stay.
Beautiful walking ...
... past beach after beach
With stunning views as we went over hills
We made good time to Anchorage - nothing too strenuous in terms of
terrain. We stepped out into the beach just after 1pm. The DoC hut was so nice
- like Mintaro hut on the Milford Track. Less than 10 years old and built so
well for the surroundings. Came with WiFi and a cold water shower on the
beach. Stacey had found us good beds in the furthest room. Lovely hut.
Individual bunks with wooden lockers for your pack. So everything is nice and
tidy. We were not far from the flush toilets either.
Anchorage was a hive of activity. Cat boats and water taxis came and left
continually. Picking up people and dropping others off. Abel Tasman is a hike
you can do with a pack drop off service. And we certainly saw a lot of people
only walking with a day pack.
We unpacked a bit then headed to the stunning beach for a swim. Mike wasn't
keen to go in beyond his knees but the rest of us found the dip very
refreshing after a hot day. On the way back, Stacey found the beach shower. so
we could wash off the salt. Dried off in the sun. Then after a wee read in my
bunk Mike and I went for another walk back along the beach. A lot of
bluebottles had washed up so we stepped over them carefully. I lay under a
tree at the other end of the beach with Mike. Stacey and Callan came over and
then some of us explored a wee bay after wading through knee deep water. This
wee beach had some cave and rocks that were fun to poke into.
Swimming
Gorgeous. Feet.
Is this really a "hut"?
Mike is flat out
We wandered back to the DoC hut and made tea. I had the creamy Carbonara
pasta from BackCountry. I ate it all! I went to bed early. But I had a
terrible sleep. So that didn't work so well.
Friday March 1 - Anchorage Hut to Awaroa Hut
We woke to another glorious day at Anchorage. This place is definitely a slice
of heaven. I ate instant porridge - the plain one. And it wasn't too
terrible. Mike drank coffee from his stove lid.
We left at 7.50am, walking along the beach. Then up and over a hill to an
estuary we needed to cross at low tide. Callan had studied the tide tables and timed everything perfectly
when he booked, and we had an uneventful but muddy walk across the drained
estuary. Just a wee channel to ford.
Not difficult tramping
So beautiful here
Across the estuary
We emerged at Torrent Bay - a tiny settlement with ten or so houses. Many of
them had extensive solar. Being off-grid is much easier than it used to be.
From here, the track wound up and down a few hills. We got some good views
back to Anchorage.
Fairly easy going
Look at the view!
Bark Bay came up really quickly. We stopped for a quick snack at the really
tidy hut there and kept going to Tonga Quarry for lunch, beside a glorious
beach with marine reserve.
The afternoon saw us climbing up and down over headlands and into a huge beach
curving north.
I found a little Sand Dollar, more like a Sand 10c
The track took us back up to a saddle and then down again. We could hear
talking and laughing. Suddenly we emerged to a wonderful sight - of people
sitting on beanbags and tables eating pizza and supping on craft beer. An
amazing sight and not something you see on most tramps!
Se settled in for pizzas and beers and chia sisters lemonade. Delicious.
Wow!
At 3pm Stacey and I decided it was time to leave. We left Mike and Callan to
have 'just one more beer' with some new drinking buddies and headed back up
the sky track. It took ten minutes to get back to the main track and another
hour to reach Awaroa hut, nestled in a lovely spot next to a tidal estuary.
We went for bit of a swim in knee-deep water. Suddenly we heard Callan and
Mike talking as they walked in. "They'll be another hour at least", we heard
Callan say. I shouted Mike a few times and the echo was amazing. They were
quite astonished to see us there already and swimming! They had taken the 'low route' which we thought might be tricky at high tide - but they said it really wasn't. Well signposted and just a little bit of wading.
Callan came in for swim. There was a cold shower to rinse off afterwards, and
we got a room sorted.
What a great spot for a swim
We sat on the grass outside the hut watched people trying to cross the estuary
to our side as the tide dropped. It was quite entertaining, as people started
off, the water got deeper and deeper and they turned back.
Mike found a tramping friend, Stirling, waiting at our side! Mike was
astonished to see him, he's normally hiking in Europe and North America and it
was quite the surprise to find him at Awaroa.
Sitting in the sun
Hi Stirling!
There was all sorts of activity at Awaroa Hut. A couple with day packs came
over through the water and asked for the "manager". Stacey sent them to the
hut wardens. The couple came back and wandered off to the south. A couple of
minutes later the hut warden came with tent, sleeping bags and mats - and
warden ran after them when Stacey said they'd wandered off but came back after
not finding them. Turns out they were day walkers that got lost and missed
their taxi. With no hope of a taxi this late the warden was going to supply
them emergency stuff to get through the night. The warden said it was too warm
to give them any problems from exposure. I'm sure they were fine. Maybe
uncomfortable and cold.
Those "buddies" that Callan and Mike had met at the cafe eventually arrived at
the hut very inebriated. And they were almost all sleeping in our room. They
were a bit rowdy.
I was in bed by 1930 but woken by dribbling water landing on the floor of the
room. Panicked as thought someone's water was leaking. Watch light showed
someone hunched over at the door without a torch trying to find the door
handle. And weeing on the ground! I asked if he was OK. No answer. He stumbled
back to his sleeping bag. Stacey used her phone to look and I could see a
puddle under my bed. Idiot.
After that I had a fitful sleep.
Saturday March 2 - Awaroa Hut to Whaiwharangi Hut
Awake at 6.30am to dodge the puddle and do a wee in the actual toilet. It
was a stunning morning but with rain later in the forecast. I ate my porridge,
packed up and waited for low tide at 8.20am.
A dry estuary for us to cross
Today was an 18km day to Whaiwharangi, our last hut of the walk.
We crossed the estuary, about 1km across. Mike started barefoot and convinced
Stacey to do the same. But immediately the shells caused a bit of wincing from
both of them. I said, remember my shell encounter?! which got Mike more than a
little worried. Stacey commandeered Callan's Crocs and stomped across in huge
but less sore footwear. I gave Mike my poles and that took enough of his
weight that the shells became bearable.
As we put our shoes on at the other end, and Mike picked up inexplicably
dumped toilet paper all around, the hut wardens arrived and said people use
the toilet paper from the nearby toilet to clean their feet after the
crossing. One person asked the warden where there was a hose to wash his
feet off. We're in the middle of nowhere! The warden pointed at a stream 10m
away and said there. Which we'd all done.
Once we were re-shoed and ready we set off under a tree canopy. And it started
raining. We were well covered under the trees, but eventually we did get our
jackets on. Callan and Stacey forged ahead. This day had a bit of up and down.
We bumped into Stirling again as he walked back to his end point.
Mike contemplating the rain showers
Crossing a beach on the way
Jacket? Or Cap? It was that sort of day.
We walked through Totaranui - our destination the next day for our water taxi
back to Marahau. Totaranui is a big DOC campsite with road access and a
homestead that was just getting prepared for a wedding function. But rumours
of a shop were exaggerated. No cold V for Mike.
Well, this is a pretty well prepared track!
We continued to Whaiwharangi as the rain eased to drizzly showers. This hut,
our final stop, was lovely. An old restored homestead. 20 bunks. Stacey and
Callan had secured primo beds in the downstairs room for us. Sweet.
Whaiwharangi hut
Beach out front
This is more than a hut!
We chatted
to Hunter from the US who'd just finished working at the Gin Shack in
Blenheim. He was lovely. He was a talented musician and played folk music
guitar and banjo and wooden spoons. Check him out on his YouTube channel.
Anyway. I was not long out of bed. And had my best sleep of the whole tramp.
Sunday Mar 3 - Whaiwharangi Hut to Totaranui and out
I awoke at 5.15am and snoozed until 7.10am when it was time for brekkie. I tried the maple porridge. It was a bit sweet. Brekkie is an issue for
me. It's hard to find something I like eating every morning.
Away, we were off by
8.20am. Today was lightly overcast and warm. Our itinerary today was to return to Totaranui via Gibbs Hill - up and over the hills instead of back via the beaches.
It started with an easy
grunt up to views over to Wainui. This is the end of the official great walk, and there's a track down the hill into the car park that we didn't take. Instead we headed off on a lovely inland
track for three DOC hours. It took me just a smidge under that. The track took us up to Gibbs Hill and then followed the power lines down as the clouds cleared up, and blue skies with really warm humid weather took their place. 45 minutes later got us to the "outer suburbs" of Totoranui. Ha ha. Still another 20
mins to the campsite and beachfront.
The bush clad inland hill views were quite different to the last few days
We waited in the sun for our water taxi. As
we were super early for our 1.45pm scheduled taxi, we tried our luck on the
12pm one. And got on!! They had 5 places left and we bagged 4 of
them.
The boat trip back was absolutely gorgeous. The skipper stopped at Tonga Island
and we watched seals sunbathe. We were following our walking route as we headed back
to Marahau so we had wonderful views of where we'd been, from the ocean this time.
Loading up
Seals on Tonga Island
Views back to the beaches and headlands we walked over
When we reached Marahau, the crew took our boat out of the water and onto a trailer behind a
tractor - and towed it, with us still in what I guess now was a bus, to their office near the start of the walk. Callan and Mike helped unload the bags from the hold and it went on
and on, seemingly without end. So much luggage for 24 people stashed away.
We had enough time for lunch at Hooked - my Mushroom Barbecue burger was delicious! - before we were on the road back to Blenheim. We overnighted at a chalet at the Spring Creek Holiday Park before our Monday afternoon sailing to get us back to Wellington.
What a wonderful adventure! This trip was very different to other great walks. It felt less like we were tramping, and more that we were strolling from one tropical beach paradise to another. What would I do differently next time? Probably spend more time and even stay somewhere like Anchorage or Whaiwharangi for successive nights. I couldn't spend too much time lazing on the beautiful undisturbed beaches and clear azure waters.
