Highest point of the first day with a beautiful view.
Before I start: Milena and I are very well and we are right at the end of our journey through New Zealand. Paihia is the city called we stay in at the moment, which is a beautiful, small city located at the seaside. We also face the first bad weather here, but this is actually not too bad. So we can relax and take our time for writing a blog and organizing our next destination Bali. The time here in New Zealand was definitely amazing and we can recommend with no doubt to any person who likes to travel. So lets start with the actual post about:
The Abel Tasman Track
Preface
Here is the short introduction of our hiking trip through Abel Tasman. It is a beautiful national park on the northern part of the southern island. The track can take 3-5 days. Since Milenas and my condition is not the best we decided to take our time and make it in 6 days a break at the Bark Bay Hut (also because we could not book a hut in advance). So needless to say, we also had to bring food for full six days and our own cooking facilities. You cannot compare those huts with the ones in Austria where you can just ask for a Schnitzel with Fries and a Radler, there is literally nothing but rooms with mattresses and drinking water.
Elevation of the Abel Tasman Track
The day before the track
We don't really know what the weight of our backpack was after we finished packing but after doing the math a little bit it must have been close to 13 kg with all the food, sleeping bag, schnaps and so on.
Challenge accepted: Let's get our backpacks packed.
Day 1: Marahau - Anchorage Hut
On the first day we spontaneously decided to make a video diary. We (especially I) had great fun doing this videos. We thought it is an easy way to show more of the track and of our experience. Sorry to all the English speaking people - it is in German.
Close by our hut there was probably a training camp for rugby where they did a Haka which was quite impressive to watch.
Sunset.
Day 2: Anchorage Hut - Bark Bay Hut
Early start with good weather.
Some good company on the track.
Low tide crossing. Saved us a lot of time! On high tide there is water everywhere.
Day 3: Bark Bay Hut
Day 4: Bark Bay Hut - Awaroa Hut
Almost there. Unfortunately not our boat.
Bissi planschen.
A shower with a view.
Relaxing and reading after the hike.
Day 5: Awaroa Hut - Wharawharangi Hut
The low tide crossing, was partly as high as my knees were.
And again, beautiful views.
Day 6: Wharawharangi Hut - Wainui Bay
Not just water, also a lot of trees we passed.
Last day - the mood is on the top :-)
Summary
We can highly recommend doing any track for its own experience and especially the Abel Tasman Track. Not only because of stunning views and beautiful beaches but also because of every experience we made where we could grow with each other. We learnt how important it is to take good care of us, how important water is and what it means to ration water and food (because you cannot just drink everything from the nature as it is at home) and how much a person actually eats and "produces" litter within six days. And what a hot shower means and how luxury that is :-).
Not only the track but the whole trip around New Zealand showed me once more what I already learnt before from an African quote:
"If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together."
Follow Up
Post was delayed due to heavy rain. The internet in Paihia was down and we are already in Auckland. Our flight to Denpasar in Bali departs in more or less 10 hours and we are looking forward for some relaxing time with yoga, massages and meditation in Bali.
