Summer July in Winter July - Abel Tasman National Park

Hello again, and sorry for the long-ish layoff. If you've been holding your breath for a new post, I'm sorry on at least two levels. Then again, you've managed to hold your breath for like, 4 whole days, so good on you for that. A real accomplishment if you ask me.

There are, however, a few reasons why the posts have been a little thin on the ground lately. Firstly, I'm back in school, so I don't have a lot of exciting things to write about. Oh for the halcyon days when I was wandering the New Zealand countryside, seeing the sights, eating the food and drinking the beer. Now, I'm just in regular ole Dunedin, toiling away on a seemingly never-ending pile of work. Which brings me to my second reason: I'm back in school, and thus have assignments, unit plans, personal reflections and resource files due almost non-stop until I go out on my second placement in mid-August. And as doubtlessly exciting as my writing can be, I don't have much faith in my ability to thrill you, the reader, with how I stayed shut in my room all weekend writing "Learning Objectives" and "Success Criteria".

Nevertheless, there is a point to this post, and as I'm sure you've inferred from the title, it concerns my trip to the Abel Tasman National Park to walk the Coastal Track, one of NZ's ten (and my second) "Great Walks". I have alluded to this adventure before, and here I will attempt to expand, ever so slightly, on the sheer adventure of it all. There's more blather, if you'd care to continue, after the jump.


First things first: the title of this blog has to do with the fantastic weather I had while wandering around the Abel Tasman. As the more meteorlogically (is that a word? I hope so) advanced of you will know, NZ (being in the Southern Hemisphere) has inverse seasons to those in the Northern Hemisphere. So, while you were all seemingly melting away (a la friend of the blog and world's oldest man Keith Richards*) in a sweltering July, I was SHREDDING GNAR on the slopes in Queenstown. Despite my trip up to the very top of the South Island falling pretty much smack dab in the middle of winter, the weather in Nelson and the Abel Tasman was GLORIOUS. All sunshine, in the mid-teens Celsius and generally just wonderful. Hence the title: I was getting CANADA July in NEW ZEALAND July. So there.

Earthquake Memorial guitar made from wood from
damaged buildings

As for the trip itself, it started off bright and early on the Saturday immediately after I returned from Queenstown, as I hopped on a bus to Kaikoura for the first leg of my journey. Kaikoura is a small town a few hours north up the coast from Christchurch, and I arrived Saturday evening after a long day of bus riding. I also had the chance to wander around Christchurch for a few hours (the Canterbury Museum was pretty cool), and it really is a shame what's happened to that city. I'm certainly not alone in wishing the city and people there a speedy recovery, I'd love to come back someday and see Christchurch swinging again.

Maori carving of Tom H. No, that's too obvious.
Maori carving of T. Harman

Number of aftershocks since Sept. 2010. Crazy.

Back to Kaikoura, and it really is one of the most scenic locales in NZ. The town itself is nestled right on the Pacific coast, and immediately inland is the Kaikoura Range, a series of mountains that, in winter especially, are particularly resplendent: snow capped peaks directly over-looking the ocean. I spent a day in Kaikoura, and had the opportunity to go see a fur seal colony and walk around the Kaikoura peninsula, all the while taking in some truly breathtaking views. The area is also among the best in NZ for whale-watching, but unfortunately I wasn't able to see any from my great vantage point on the...shore. Next time I'll have to conquer my inner land-lubber and get into a boat.

Fur seal, just posting up on the beach.

Peninsula walkway

Snow capped peaks, right on the coast. RIDIC.

I spent Sunday night in Kaikoura, and was once again, up early for the next stage of my journey: the bus ride to Nelson (via Blenheim), the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park. I arrived Sunday evening, and more or less went immediately to bed. I'd have to be up extra early to catch the bus out to the Park itself, about an hour and a half outside of the city.

I started the track Tuesday morning, and rather than ramble on and on about how great it was, I'll just let the pictures (and some witty captions of course) do the talking from here.

And so it begins...

Sandy beaches, azure water. Just needed a Mojito.

Apple Tree Bay

Some Island. Not Treasure Island (probably)

Torrent Bay from the high-tide route

Finally around the other side of Torrent Bay

Wednesday was another early morning (NZ is making a good run at turning me into a morning person), as I had to be up before sunrise and on the track once again. Why you ask? Well, portions of the Coastal Track are only walkable at low tide, and I had to cover about 13km of trail before 10am. So, with the moon (and a flashlight. I'm not a vampire) lighting my way, I was off at about quarter to seven, and made it safely across the high-tide area with time to spare. Once again, the day's photos will take the story from here.

Took a picture of the sunrise. Bitches love sunrise.

More glorious sunrise at Onetahuti Bay

Safely across the Awaroa Bay estuary. I win again high tide.

The beach at Totaranui, lunchtime day 2

Anapai Bay

Final descent to Whariwharangi Bay, end of day 2

After surviving a possum and mouse attack Wednesday night, I was off a little later Thursday morning for the last 6km of the walk. Fairly uneventful overall, and I was back in Nelson at about 2:30. I took some time to check out the city, and I must say, I really like Nelson. Seemed like a really nice place, the downtown was neat and the city had a good vibe overall. Also, I saw the paddock where NZ's first rugby match was played, so that was cool too.

Friday morning was another early one, as I had a 15 hour, 800km bus journey back to Dunedin. It is a day that had since gone down in infamy (UP YOURS BURGER KING), so I'm not going to go into too much detail. I was back in Dunedin at 11:30pm, and grateful to be back home after an exhilarating, but also exhausting break.

Done!

So that's pretty much up to date on what I've been doing. I'll still be making (or attempting to make) regular posts, but they will not be as frequent as perhaps you've come to expect. Beer Friday! will continue more or less on schedule, but as for what else, I'm not sure yet. The Dunedin portion of the NZ International Film Festival starts this week, so if I see any of those movies, I'll perhaps do some movie reviewing (look out Roger Ebert!).

Regardless of what I write about next, big thanks to all of you for reading thus far. I really appreciate you taking the time to stay updated on what I've been doing. I've received many complimentary emails, texts, BBMs, Facebook messages and even Tweets about the blog, and they've all been taken to heart. Thank you very much, and stay tuned.

Dave

* - Mr. Richards does not know he is a friend of the blog. But that doesn't make it any less true.