Spring Break Part 1 - Abel Tasman

The last two weeks the University gave us two weeks off from school in between terms which we study abroad kids termed as our spring break and we all set out on different adventures. Me, Phil, Hayley and Zak rented a car together and set out to do a tour of the North part of the South Island. We planned on doing Abel Tasman first and were super excited to get our adventures started. We also all agreed to attempt to make the trip as cheap as possible and so often resorted to pitching our tents and sleeping in some pretty random places. First prime example, our first night we failed at finding the free campsite Zak had found online and so we ended up setting up camp in the back yard of some random people's summer house. Lucky for us they never came home that night.

The next morning we drove to Abel Tasman and set out on our journey. Our packs were absolutely huge and so heavy due to our plan of doing six days on the track-three on the coastal and three on the inland.

My obnoxious pack....

These plans however changed after the first day. Me and Hayley had acquired some pretty nasty blisters, and all of us with the exception of Zak were having knee problems. The problem however was that the Abel Tasman track is a loop and so since we weren't doing the inland part of the loop we now had to pay for a water taxi to take us back to our cars, but at that point in time, we were so exhausted and in pain, and tired of carrying our huge packs that the boat ride seemed like a great idea. But back to day one-- the views were absolutely breath taking, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

Nearing the end of day 1 there was a pull off track 1hr away that led to a waterfall that only Zak and I wanted to take and we ended up being super happy we chose to do it. It was the first waterfall I'd seen in NZ, pretty sweet as!

We made camp that night and at the time didn't even realize how lucky and blessed we were to not have sand flies absolutely everywhere. Walked to the beach at night and marveled at how amazing, clear, and huge the night sky was. The next morning after wrapping all our toes and blisters in bandages we set off again for some more epic views and scenery.

We found a random cave! But it really didn't end up being that cool... haha. 

The second day of trekking ended up being SO LONG--I think we hiked 13 miles that day.. There were a couple just long, steep up hills that seemed to drag on forever, and the hut where we planned on spending that night was just absolutely nowhere in sight. It was terrible... Walking in sand was probably the most irritating aspect of it all because you move so slowly and it takes forever to get across a long beach. The views however still continued being amazing which definitely helped in dealing with the pain in our feet and knees. Once we finally reached the hut that we technically didn't pay for and weren't allowed to sleep in we still decided to stay there and met some cool people. One couple from Spain and another American exchange student from Wellington. It's funny how in the New Zealand bush we never seem to run into any Kiwis, just more tourists and exchange students. 

The next morning we had an unfortunate visit from a DOC (department of conservation) man and got fined 20 bucks for staying in the hut without a hut ticket... but we soon forgot about it with the beautiful sunrise and a continuation of amazing views. 

The unfortunate thing about our third day is that it began with a nasty tide crossing. We were hoping that if we waited right up until the point of lowest tide maybe all the water would leave, but alas, it did not. And so right after Hayley and I had spent a good twenty minutes wrapping and bandaging our poor feet they immediately got soaked in freezing ocean water. 

Not fun....

After that we only spent about two hours hiking when we stopped at an amazing beach and decided to make camp there for the night. We set up our tents, had an early lunch and then set out to what we heard to be the best seal watching point in Abel Tasman called separation point. We were so much faster now that we didn't have our huge packs on and made it to some cool spots that we may not have even seen had we continued lugging our bags to the further campsite. 

Of course there were some more inevitable puddles to jump over.. I actually got my feet totally soaked doing this but at least it looks impressive..

Climbed some cool rocks.

The water at separation point was some of the most beautiful colors I have yet seen. The deep blue, and sparkly aqua colors were just breath taking... I did not want to leave!!

And Zak had fun harassing a poor little seal.

That evening and night we relaxed, played cards, got eaten by sandflies unfortunately and then the next morning we happily loaded onto our water taxi. The driver was super cool and took us into all these special places where we could see more seals, and constantly told us neat stories, or fun facts about the area. It was totally different seeing all of Abel Tasman from the water. I also have never been on a boat ride before and had so much fun!!!!!!!!!

Woooooo!