Abel Tasman, 3

Day three of our Abel Tasman tramp, Bark Bay to Awaroa campground, with a brief stop at Awaroa Lodge.

Stupid kayaker tricks at Bark Bay

Tidal flats

Ditto, Bark Bay campground in the trees

Aggressive tree fern

Difference #4 from 2009...it starts getting really, really humid

Playing Blue Lagoon on an isolated beach

Dead blue penguin...

Boardwalk across wetlands

Difference #5..we'd planned on a nice major meal at Awaroa Lodge, but they don't
serve from 3-6PM, and we had to settle for a tuna wrap and a salad...bummer

The ups and downs of the Abel Tasman

And so we arrived at Awaroa Bay and campground with this grim reminder of
what happens if you don't get the tides right

Abel Tasman, 2

Day two of our 2014 Abel Tasman tramp, Anchorage to Bark Bay. The pix don't convey it, but day two was the beginning of some hardships...more sand flies, a short tidal crossing blown off but a long uphill hike substituted, and a loud, unpleasant night at the boatie-filled campground at Bark Bay. Should we do this again, we'll stay at the hut at Bark Bay.

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