Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand

Monday and Tuesday, 28 and 29 January 2008

We head westward to Marahau, which is at the entrance to the Abel Tasman National Park. This is a popular tramping spot and there is a coastal track which goes through spectacular native bushland. Generally people trek for 3 days from here to Totararnui, overnighting in huts or camping. We don't have a tent, sleeping bags, a stove or 3 days. Despite what the guide books say, we reckon we can do a section of the track - Marahau to Bark Bay return, in 1 day. The estimated walking time, according to the Lonely Planet, is 14 hours but we will be trekking with small day-bags and plan a carb-loaded breakfast of Weet-Bix (the NZ relation of Weetabix) and bananas. Although rank amateurs in the tramping game, we decide that we will do it in half the time. The terrain is mostly flat and so we build up a head of steam in the morning, scoffing at the 3-dayers as we leave them in our wake. However we get badly lost while trying to beat an incoming tide in one inlet and have to squelch through a few hundred yards of sludge before we re-discover the track. To make up time, we try to cross a small stream (about 8 feet wide) but the stepping stones are slippery beyond belief so this turns in to a bit of a debacle, with a local family deciding to stop off on the opposite bank to chew their lunch and offer helpful pieces of advice to what they must assume are soft "city folk". Beaten by the stream, we retreat and go around the long way. We stop off at a beautiful beach in Torrent Bay for lunch. On the menu is the staple sandwich for the last three weeks - ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. Although having no basis for this, we still feel confident that we can reach Bark Bay and continue on the route only to meet a steep hill and the belated realisation that there is no way we are going to cover the remaining 4 kilometres in 30 minutes. We turn around and head back towards Marahau, this time meeting the 3-dayers, who rightly look down their noses at us! At this stage, chronic foot, calf, thigh, back, shoulder and neck pains kick in, along with mild long-walk-delirium. The return journey is nowhere near as pleasant as the outward one. We manage to crawl back to the van, just as darkness falls. A valuable lesson - don't mock the tramping gods!

To see photos click here.