Abel Tasman, 1

The Abel Tasman tramp is one of New Zealand's half dozen "Great Walks," short treks that bring hundreds of thousands of people here every year. The AT is perhaps the easiest of them, at least in terms of length and elevation gain/loss. All told, it is 4 nights and 5 days one way, typically with a water-taxi return. The manicured track alternates between temperate bush, beautiful clear streams, waterfalls and pools, and then miles of golden beach, islands, and turquoise sea. All this we did in 2009, and still remember it as one of our Great Walks, right up there with Everest and Mont Blanc. So, naturally, in 2014, we wanted to do it again.

Oh; did I mention that the AT is the one with a couple/three tidal crossings, and that
one has to plan one's trip, reservations, and so on, in accordance with the tides?

Me, at the outset, in Marahau; I am laden with 30 lbs, Vicki with 20; we decided this
time to do the campgrounds and not the DOC huts, and so carried a bit more than
we did in 2009; first big difference from 2009

The scenery, now bush, now beach, always beautiful

Waterfall and pool

The hut at Anchorage Bay; the nice campground was a hundred meters to the left

View from our campsite; that's a floating backapacka hostel in the center; you
hike during the day, sleep on it during the night; there's no conveyance nor
abode New Zealanders haven't contrived

Vicki reading her Kindle (what? you don't trek with your Kindle?); second big
difference from 2009: the sand flies were waiting for us

Strange New Zealand blueberries: don't eat, don't touch, don't even ask...

New Zealand Out-Takes, 2

It's time again for another episode of everyone's favorite, New Zealand Out-Takes!

When filming of The Lord of the Rings concluded in 2000, all
the sets and sites were dismantled and removed; but not all
the orcs and uruk-hai were accounted for; and so the
Department of Conservation went about constructing a
number of pit-traps--this one on the Greenstone Track--in
order to ensnare the missing creatures; neither DOC nor
NewLine Cinema has ever commented on the effectiveness
of these traps...

New Zealand pumpkins: trick or treat! Maybe
it's because of the hole in the ozone layer?

Seen at hiking carparks across the Island; this
is their version of "stand your ground"

On the Kawarau, near the Argonaths

Signage at AJ Hackett Bungy

At touristy places one also occasionally sees "please do not
stand on the toilet seats" signs

Details at 10

Old police station in Hoki

North of Greymouth

Vegetable eruption at Punakaiki Rocks

Up closer

Unusual leaf pattern on a flax plant

Still processing this one...

Scenic view carpark; we were the only non-RV

RV of our dreams, near Murchison; I'll have a separate post
on such vehicles soon; they are not really all that uncommon
in New Zealand; note the slide-outs

Around Motueke and Riwaka is where they grow the hops (as in beer)

It's a small operation, but makes the best, hoppiest, IPA I've
had yet

Westport

Westport is not one of New Zealand's destination towns...mostly a fishing town, a regional center, jump off for the Heaphy Track Great Walk, and last major stop north before swinging back east toward Abel Tasman and the Marlborough Sound. We liked it well enough, tenting at the TripInn hostel, walking an interesting main street, and having a great Indian dinner.

Like so many New Zealand towns, some great Art Deco...

Thus

And thus

And thus

WWI memorial...we've been to most of those places...

There's not much light pollution on the South Island; alas,
I lack the skill and the camera to capture some of the
heavenly sights we've seen, but they have been stupendous,
best ever, etc.

The TripInn in Westport, a Victorian mansion now a hostel

Reception

Beautiful landscaping and garden, including passion fruit and
black roses like in Menlo Park

Our site; nearby was a young man from Colorado who had
been born in Tallahassee...Go 'Noles, #1!

But the road goes ever on, and the next morning we are
wending our way through the Nelson lakes area

Toward camping reservations on the Abel Tasman Tramp

Charming Creek Walkway

Route #6 took us on north to Westport and then a bit beyond to the Charming Creek Walkway, a pleasant hike into the northwestern South Island bush, up as far as Mangatini Falls. The track is interesting particularly in that it simply follows a 19th century private railway, tracks and all, used first for logging and then later mining, abandoned only in the 1950s. There was more than flora and fauna to see...