New Zealand Twilight

As most of you know I was supposed to leave New Zealand already. But then again the date I had set to leave was arbitrary. Blindly set nearly six months ago when the lady from Quantas Airways on the other end of the receiver needed a date to complete my set of airline tickets. I had pulled a date miraculously out of the air. That date was February 12th. As you can see that date has come and gone. In the end I have extended my stay in New Zealand an extra twelve days. They were an extraordinary 12 days and I will fondly refer to them as my New Zealand Twilight. Fitting I suppose as New Zealand is the first country in the world that sees the light of the new day everyday. I guess in that regard every dusk I witnessed was the first for that day as well. Its amazing this concept of time travel when visiting this part of the world. You skip a day by arriving here but also the time flys by so amazingly fast the next thing you know you have been here for two months. I shall have to organize a national scientific committee look into this phenomenon upon my return to the states.

On the Milford track I had met two Israeli girls. Their names were Leeron (which means " I have song") and Tal (which means "dew"). I found them to be good company so I hiked with them for the last two days. There wasn't much else to look at on the Milford so we talked alot and I got to know them very well. When I arrived back in Queenstown after my Cascade Saddle adventure they happened to be there as well. Well when you are traveling alone sometimes that is all it takes. They would be my traveling partners for my last days in New Zealand. (more on Israel later..)

After a brief walk on the glacier in Franz Joseph we made our way up the West Coast to the Nelson area in which we were to use as our lunch pad to venture into Abel Tasman National Park. Abel Tasman National Park is on the northern most end of the south island. It has another great walk called the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. We picked up a forth Israeli (Hiem) and we kayaked up the coast into the park to a lovely place called Anchorage. There our packs were waiting for us (the place that we rented the Kayaks from did a bag drop for us off the water taxi that frequents the park) and we hiked up another four hours to Bark Bay where we camped for the night next to the beach. It was a bit of an overcast day, and it even rained some while we were sea kayaking but it was amazing to explore the nooks and crannies of the coastline.



Mark Twain once said about the Midwest, " If you don't like the weather...wait five minutes". I think Mark Twain had never visited New Zealand. In fact..I am sure of it. If he had..he would have definitely said that about NZ. The next day was glorious. Not a cloud in the sky. And as we hiked back 6 hours to our car we finally saw what the weather did not allow us the day earlier. The full glory of the Abal Tazman. When the sun is out the water is this amazing teal blue and the hidden beaches along the coastal track are straight out of the Caribbean. We even were able to cross one of the tidal flats at near low tide. We had finally found a little bit of everything in New Zealand.






Distance Kayaked in Abel Tasman: 12.4 km (7.7 miles)
Distance walked in Abel Tasman: 21.9 km (13.6 miles)
Distance walked on trip to date: 253.20 km (157.33 miles)


Upon returning to Nelson we stayed with my Kiwi friend Sally for a few nights. She had a huge dinner awaiting us (and she didn't even know how many of us their would be). We dined on her patio over looking the sea. Feeling normal again and eating normal food. Sally has to be one of the most amazing Kiwis I have ever met. We will be forever indebted to her for her hospitality.

Two days later we were headed down to lesser known Nelson Lakes National Park for what would be my sixth NZ national park. Our plan was to hike up to Angelus Hut for a night. The hike up to the hut is very steep on at first which after about two hours you find yourself up on a very exposed ridge line all the way to the hut. Which is nestled far up in the mountains between two hidden lakes. We had a glorious day that day with views as far as the eye could see. Its topography reminding much of the various ridge lines found in the Rockies of Colorado. This would be my last back country experience in New Zealand but as it would turn out..New Zealand was not done with me yet. The next day we awoke to a torrential down pour. (coincidentally it rained at least one day on every major trek I did in NZ) We decided to take the easier way out and bypass the ridge and head down into the bush via the Speargrass Trail which follows Speargrass creek, taking only six hours to walk out. However two hours into our downward trek later we were still no closer to tree line. The trek proved to be one of the most difficult I would face in NZ due to the fact that we kept "loosing" the trail and had to cross the swollen creek several times as the trail wound down the mountain. After our third crossing we gave up on the idea of a dry crossing and began crossing the stream (boots and all) by simply walking through it. We were soaked anyway. It had been raining for hours. And then there was the mud. We are not talking get your boots dirty mud, were talking mud that would sallow you whole mud. Like getting stuck up to your knees- quicksand kind of mud. At one point, Leeron fell into it bottom first with me laughing and pointing the whole time. It just got hysterical after a while so it didn't matter. In the end we made it out but it seemed that New Zealand didn't want to let us go without a fight.

Distance walked in Nelson Lakes National Park:32 km (19.8 miles)
Distance walked on trip to date: 285.20 km (177.21 miles)

After Nelson Lakes we took a day and drove through Queen Charlotte Sounds. Here I had finally come full circle. It was here over a month before that I had taken the ferry from the North Island and begun my South Island Adventures. It was good closure for me. I felt as if I had done what I had come to do and I even got more than I bargained for. My last days in New Zealand were filled with adventure, moments of relaxation and the best company one could hope for. Knowing I had at least that makes it easier to move on...