So conclusion after the past 10 days travelling through Golden Bay, the Abel Tasman region, and the Marlborough Sounds - I am definitely, 100% returning to NZ one day. This was pretty certain as it was, but I've had such an excellent week and a half that I find it hard to believe I wouldn't seek out this same experience one day. I'll find some time to post the backlog of pictures that I've accumulated once I get to Wellington (where there ought to be a decent internet cafe).
So, since I left Nelson:
May 11th: Drove up to Collingwood, the northernmost town in the South Island. On the way, stop at Te Waikoropupu springs (also known as Pupu Springs, a little ironic given how clear the water is), the largest freshwater springs in NZ and among the 100 largest in the world. Neat place. Also stopped at the Abel Tasman memorial. Neat place, rather boring monument. Collingwood is a town of 250 people, and I agreed with the Lonely Planet description that it felt sort of like the "edge of the world".
May 12th: Head up to Farewell Spit, which is pretty much a giant sandbar that juts about 30 km into Golden Bay at the very top of the island. Whales get confused a lot here and beach themselves. Also checked out Pillar Point, a lighthouse close to the northernmost point of the south island, and Wharakiri Beach, maybe the most beautiful beach I've seen in my life. Hang out with some seals and some cows that have strayed onto the beach from the nearby farm and watch the sunset.
May 13th: Planned to do nothing today, ended up walking the northern third of the Abel Tasman Coastal track instead, from Wainui to Mutton Cove and back. Ends up being about a 25 km walk. Had a nice brief chat with some kayaking Kiwis that were camping out, but mostly is a day of solitude.
May 14th: Drive down to Marahau (on the southern edge of Abel Tasman park) very early in the morning to catch the 9:00 water taxi, which takes me to Bark Bay in the park, and I walk the southern third of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. (I had plans to do the middle part of the track as well, but certain areas are only passable at two hours before and after low tide, which was at 6 am and 6 pm these days of early winter.) Very lovely beach views, like the day before, but this hike is also about 25 km, and I'm quite exhausted by day's end. Drive down to Motueka, about 15 km down the road and the biggest town in the area.
May 15th: This is my "do nothing" day, and I'm pretty successful - get my car tuned up for the first time since I bought it, which winds up not being too expensive. Also happens that a roving band of singer songwriters from Dunedin is in town playing that night, so check that out, and it's bloody brilliant. I love music.
May 16th: Drive to Picton, in northeastern corner of the south island at the head of the Marlborough Sounds. It's where I'll catch the ferry to Wellington and the north island on the 22nd. I'll be doing the Queen Charlotte Track, which is right the following four days. Stay at a totally awesome backpackers called Tombstone Backpackers (it's across the street from a cemetery) and meet a Canadian who's biking around NZ and making a documentary about it and a German that's travelling with him. Help is needed to film him tomorrow, and I am up to the challenge as long as it's early in the morning - I don't have to catch the boat to the track until 9 am.
May 17th: My stint in filming goes well, I think, despite the rainy morning. Catch the boat out to Ship's Cove at the beginning of the track, manage to avoid getting seasick despite the rough waters (though it was pretty close). Hang out at Ship Cove for a bit - this place is where Captain Cook landed quite a few times during his voyages, meeting Maori and trying to cure his crew of the scurvy. On my way out of Ship Cove, I come across two Kiwi ladies, Sally and Pep, whom I soon find out are staying at the same places I am for the next three nights. Side note: The Queen Charlotte Track is one of two multi-day tracks where there are private accommodations along the way, meaning you can get a shower and a nice meal at hotel accommodations (I opted for the cheapo backpacker rooms). I walk with them for a bit and we're pretty much insta-buddies. Along the way we see a mom and dad weka feeding their baby. You can kind of understand why weka are semi-endangered, as if we'd been individuals with malicious intent, we could have easily snatched the baby from the parents as they dug for grubs. We stay at Furneaux Lodge on the eastern side of Endeavour Inlet. Since it's very much the tourist off-season in NZ, it's pretty much the three of us and the staff (who were super-friendly to us, though possibly partially out of boredom, but hey, they were cool anyway), so it's a fun time in the bar that night. As we wander out of the bar around 9:30 to call it an early night (as one does generally when one hikes all day), I hear pretty much the most unnerving sound one can hear when it's pitch black out: the sound of a wild pig screaming followed by a splash. Of course, I didn't realize that it was a pig fleeing from me for a second or two - for all I knew Nessie had relocated to NZ. Laughing it off and changing my underwear, I retired.
May 18th: This would be the shortest day, but also the most precipitatious - five minutes in, there is honest-to-god hail. This lasts for only about a minute, but the rain lasts pretty much the whole hike. Fortunately, it's pretty flat this day. Punga Cove Resort has probably the best views of the three hotels on this hike, but probably is my least favorite - spa wasn't hot at all (disappointing after a cold rainy hike), and food and drink at the restaurant were a bit overpriced.
May 19th: Longest hike today, but also some of the best views. Finally make it all the way around Endeavour Inlet, and clear views for most of the hike of both Queen Charlotte Sound, Kenepuru Sound, and Picton. Get to see the Wellington ferry leaving Picton, too, which is pretty nifty. Around 25 km later, we arrive in Portage, which is where Maori and Pakeha (Europeans) used to carry their canoes overland from sound to sound. The Portage Resort has a working spa, so the three of us get a bottle of wine and proceed to drink it in the spa, which makes us a little silly. When we eat dinner, we get a little sillier, and possibly causes the waiter to not offer us dessert (that was our theory, anyway). Good times.
May 20th: Pep and Sally need to catch an earlier boat than me, so I opt to sleep in a bit and catch them in Picton that evening instead of hiking with them. The beginning is the steepest climb yet, and results in the best views of the hike, in my opinion. After that climb though, I'm pretty much just running the rest of the hike, making few stops, and end up at the wharf where I meet the return boat to Picton about two hours early. I hang out and manage to actually get an earlier boat. Meet Pep and Sally for dinner and drinks, and after exhausting Picton's Wednesday night options, we say goodbye and are back to our respective accommodations. Since they live in Taupo and that was on the list of places I'm visiting on the north island, will probably revisit them in two weeks or so.
Today's the 21st, and I'm doing pretty much nothing today besides writing this blog post. Tomorrow I catch the ferry to Wellington, a three hour trip across the Cook Strait. I'll be there until the 28th or so. The 26th, Tadhog arrives, and so my solo journeys will come to an end. It's been fun travelling alone, but it will be good to have a dedicated partner in crime.
