Wanaka

WANAKA (21st - 24th Jan)

Our 1st major diaster has occurred. I've hurt my back while cycling thru a "ford" on our way to Mount Aspiring Hut. It's a perfect day and a beautiful track thru a valley. Suddenly I can't move and am nearly crying in pain. Luckily we're only about 4 km from the car and still cycling along a dirt road rather than up the mountain. Nik gets a lift from a passing motorist to get our car and comes to pick me up. Bloody hell it hurts, I'll be far more sympathetic to patients in the future!! Everyone is so kind to me. Back at the campsite I'm allowed a free half hour in the spa pool, which helps my back but the heat and fumes makes me want to throw up!



We decide that to continue camping would not be the best idea so we throw so money at the problem and check into a fab little appartment overlooking the lake - Perfect!!

I feel better after a stint lying down and some self prescribed pain killers. The next few days continue to be fab so Nik goes off for some solo adventures while I potter around.

So I've hitched a lift back up the track so I can get the car to fetch Caity. She's done her back in cycling through a ford. I've left her with the bikes and her pain. The bloke who's giving me a lift is a real mountain goat. He's been to the top of Mount Aspiring - he was "soloing" and "summitted" on Saturday. He smells worse than I do. His car is a battered old Toyota estate with raised up suspension and larger than normal wheels - just the thing for driving up rutted, gnarly tracks like the one we're on. We're talking about his trip - but just as he slows down to negotiate the next rocky ford a red 1980 Datsun Cherry comes flying over the summit in the opposite direction splashes down into the bottom of the ford sends water flying it's been going so fast. I look at the bloke who's giving me a lift. He just stares back at me. I can't fully see the expression on his face because he's wearing reflector sunglasses. As the Datsun Cherry pulls alongside us it stops. There's four teenagers inside, all looking like they're out of Busted. Their driver just turns to us gently nodding his head saying, "Cool." I'm speechless. My driver gently nods his head in agreement, "Dudes." Then we drive off and that's it. There's a slight tinge of regret that I won't be doing that on the way back. If we only had the hire car for a few days then maybe. But it's got to last us another three and a half months. I can't help thinking what a sensitive guy I am. Caity is injured. I'm pissed off I can't play Dukes of Hazzard.

Farewell Spit

THE INNLET and FAREWELL SPIT (14th-16th Jan)

After 4 nights of not much sleep in the tent, I was looking forward to a lie in - Nik wakes me up saying it's 9 o'clock, we have to be out by 10 and the place looks like a cross between a Chinese laundrette and a bomb site! We're up packing for an hour before I look at my watch and it's only 8 am!!!

We travel further round the north coast to Farewell Spit which is the northern most point of the south island. We find the most amazing hostel called The Innlet.


It's a real hippy place with a log burner, comfty old sofas, a large terrace in the sun, outside bath tubs by the river and outside "composting" loos (ie hole in the ground). It's so nice we stay for 2 nights but feel we could stay for much longer.

.
We went on an Eco Tour of the Spit (30km sand spit which you're not allowed to walk on) in a large 4 wheel drive bus, driven by our guide who looks like a real old man of the wild.

Our vehicle looks something out of Thunderbirds. Our driver is a cross between Rolf Harris and Bill Odie. He's full of cheery stories. 1) The week when they kept finding manta rays on the sand with only one wing left - they were being ripped off by Killer Whales who were flinging the rays onto the beach ... for fun. 2) All the pilot whales that strand themselves on the sand flats at low tide (152 of them in December) ((the smell of the dead carcasses is unbearable)) - the ones they can't save cos they're too far out they shoot. 3) The leopard seals that batter baby fur seals on the surface of the water till they turn their skins inside out and eat their flesh. As our guide keeps on reminding us .."It's not Disneyland out there."

Abel Tasman Track

THURSDAY 5th JAN 2006 CHRISTCHURCH

We've flown half way round the world - to the other side of the planet. It's taken 48 hours of travelling. 3 different plane journeys. And where's the first place we see a signpost for ? St Albans. I shit you not.


FRIDAY 6th JAN 2006 CHRISTCHURCH TO KAIKORA

There's nothing remarkable about our car. It's a white Japanese Toyota Corolla. It's not rock and roll. It doesn't say "backpacker." It does say boring 9 - 5 commuter wagon. It's automatic for heaven's sake. But at seven pounds fifty a day it's very cheap and it goes. And for the next four months it's our wardrobe and safety deposit box on wheels.

KAIKORA 5th -6th JAN

Kaikora is stunning! We're not exploring it properly because we know we're coming back later. We're just stopping off on our way up to the Abel Tasman track. Our campsite has a fully equipped kitchen but we go out for dinner and have baked beans for breakfast.


9th JANUARY - The Abel Tasman Track

After a hearty breakfast of beans and sausages and what seems like hours of packing rucksacks - we're finally off on our first bit of "ruggedness".

It's a beautiful day, blue sky, no clouds and HOT. Much of the trail takes us inland through the forest and up and over several "saddles" or hills to us. Thankfully then all end up coming down to a beautiful beach. The forest changes so much. Sometimes when we're high up it's dry and scrub like, and other times it's lush with tall tree ferns and feels like the jungle. Luckily these areas are cool away from the sun. The last part of the day is hard going, on dry exposed inland track. Eventually we come out onto a lookout and see Anchorage Bay - WOW it looks like a set from pirates of the Caribbean, turquoise water, green land, several coves and islands. There are 100 campers staying here tonight, but not us. One final up and over and we're at our site Te Pukatea Bay. It's a stunning curved bay with steep cliffs surrounding it. There's us and 4 other tents on the whole beach! Nik does a grand job setting up camp as I'm about to throw up and have a pounding headache! Me and the heat AND exercise don't get along (really should have gone to the gym before coming!!) but it's definitely all worth it.



TE PUKATEA > MEDLANDS BEACH
We're not just tourists on the Abel Tasman ... we're pack donkeys too. There's no helpful sherpa here to carry our rucksacks. It's DIY. To make matters worse we have to carry in all our own food and water. We're gone for five days so that makes for a heavy load. The other consequence of this is that we're having to be on rations! Caity is "quarter-master" - she's carrying most of the provisions - but because I'm the one with the penknife I'm "weights and measures." It's only our second day and our one slab of salami (which we're only allowed to eat four slices of at lunch) is already looking as if it won't last. Caity accuses me of being too generous with our daily ration ....

DAILY RATION / PERSON
Breakfast
I sachet of porridge
dried fruit / peanuts
Half a cup of tea

Lunch
Half a piece of fruit
2 slices of bread
4 slices of salami (thin enough so you can still see through it)
2 slices of cheese (no thicker than an NZ 2 $ coin)
Half a museli bar

Dinner
1 dehydrated pasta meal

To rub things in some German trampers in the tent next to us (5 tents in total) walk past with a freshly caught fish they've just yanked out of the ocean. And they don't look as if they want to share it with us.

MEDLANDS BAY > AWORA 11th JAN

From about 20.30 pm onwards the safest place to be is inside our tent! That's because the jungle that surrounds our campsite is home to about a billion billion mosquitoes. When it gets dark you can hear them all look for some fresh blood .... meaning us ! Fortunately for me they tend to prefer biting Caity - so she's a useful travel companion to have. I can't help thinking if all the mosquitoes out there in the Abel Tasman bush learned to follow the track it would lead them right to our campsite and we'd be toast. Luckily our tent has a zip up bit of netting at the entrance to stop mozzies getting in at night. There's an unspoken rule that says we musn't leave it open for
longer than ten seconds for fear of letting too many into "the no fly zone." Any bandits that do make it through are shot down at bedtime. Headtorches are effective searchlights inside a tent.

AWORA > MUTTON COVE 12th JAN

We have a problem. The beautiful river in front of our tent has to be crossed at low tide +/- 2 hrs. Low tide is either at 3am or 3pm (there's at least 4 hrs of walking to be done after). We decide that early it is. The warden tells us the very latest we can start to cross is 5.40am. So we're up at 5am in the semi dark, rushing to put away everything. As we start to cross the sun starts to rise and the sky has pink lines across it. Nik's got his "ejector trousers" in short mode, and I've rolled up my one pair of trousers up - this early morning dressing decision turns out to be a disaster later on. The water is up to our thighs, but then I fall into a small hole and end up on my knees with water up to my waist! Luckily only the bottom of my rucksack gets wet, along with my trousers, pants and bottom half of my T shirt. Of course this was the day the weather changes and so nothing was ever going to dry!


Mutton Cove is stunning. We think it's our favourite site. The tent goes up just before the rain starts, which doesn't stop for the next 24hrs. We walk (without packs!!) as far as Separation Point, which is nearly the end of the track and Nik picks some mussels off the rocks for supper - which are had with a tomato cup-a-soup - but I won't eat any. Disappointingly Nik is not ill in the night.

Just because they didn't come from the supermarket it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them!

MUTTON COVE > MARAHAU Fri 13th JAN

It rains all night, but the tent does it job and we're all dry. There's only 2hrs walk back today to Totaranui where we get picked up by a water taxi - which is just a big bastard of a speed boat - with a mad Kiwi driver! The weather clears so it's fantastic ride back and we can see all the places we stayed.

We find an expensive place to stay, have a shower, eat out for dinner and sleep in a clean comfy bed - FANTASTIC!!

2nd Jan 2006

HEATHROW > LOS ANGELES (2nd January)

Today was meant to be the day ! Eleven hours on board the plane with nothing to do except muck-about with the inflight entertainment system. But the bloody thing doesn't work. Instead we've been playing travel chess. The one with tiny pieces and a magnetic board. I make the killer move. QUEEN1 takes ROOK C6 ... Check Mate !!

LATER:

ROOK C6 is missing! It's slipped into the groove between our seats. I can feel it with my finger tips but I can't reach it. The only way to get him back would be to ask the captain to do a steep turn to the right - but the captain has got other things on his mind. The plane is leaking !


LOS ANGELES > AUCKLAND (2nd January local LA time)

"Houston we have a problem." We're at 25,000 feet but the plane is sinking. That leak has turned serious. Two men with gold stipes on their lapels (1st and 2nd officers who're normally meant to help fly the plane) are bailing water out of the galley. At least we think it's water. We hope it's just water rather than fuel. It's coming down from the ceiling. In these circumstances the doctor on board sitting next to me is no use. Is there a plumber ? Unfortunately not. We're already two and a half hours over the pacific ocean when the captain says it's time to turn back. Los Angeles here we come .... again.



LOS ANGELES (3rd January - very early morning)


So after 5 hours flying around the Pacific, we're back where we started (well nearly). In an airport hotel by 03.30 am LA time. The only bonus so far is the view from our bedroom window (see photo). After 5 hours sleep we're up for breakfast and the 1st of several "announcements" telling us when or IF we're ever going to leave the ground. Luckily we manage to get ourselves booked onto a direct flight to Christchurch. So we know that we're definately leaving and we don't have to get back onto the sinking plane!

Several hours spent queuing at LA aiport - having to watch our own bags be xrayed!! We're finally on our way - 24 hours late and looking forward to 13hours flying.


LOS ANGELES > CHRISTCHURCH (3rd January - evening)


Finally we're having some luck. It's a half empty plane, so we've got a row of 4 seats EACH!!!! Fantastic. 2 films (both rubbish), some ok food + few glasses of NZ wine to get us in the mood, lots of sleep. We're feeling vaguely human and nearly there now.






CHRISTCHURCH (Wednesday or is it Thursday ? 4th or 5th ?)

So we've just about been through every time zone there is and we're knackered. I'm sure crossing one time zone over the Pacific and then turning back to LA just amplifies the sensation.

There's another queue waiting for us at Christchurch. If we're "undesirable" they won't let us in. But the woman at the immigration desk stamps our passports and we're through .. or nearly through. There's an official looking woman checking whether we've got dirty shoes. Uh oh! We have. Dried mud on the heel of my walking boots. Caity's are filthy. We're told take them off and I think we're in trouble. Another man at another customs desk takes our shoes away for "analysis" or so we think. We're told to go to a collection desk in ten minutes. A small hatch door opens and a wee man pops his head out with our boots. He's only gone and cleaned them! Welcome to New Zealand. I hear Emelda Marcos is a frequent visitor.