Trecking in Abel Tasman
a break from kayaking.
Doni and I left the Buller after two attempts at paddling; the first was a very low, sorry looking section of the Buller River. It was apparently a "bouncy grade 3/3+", however with a lack of rain in the area it was mainly grade 2 riffles with about three decent rapids in the whole 10kms. The next day we got as far as the put in for "The Earthquake Run" (sounds good doesnt it?), but it was too low to bother with. We did get one burst of excitement though; we ran Mauria Falls again - this was great fun, i tried a different technique this time; i decided to plug (pencil) it rather than boof (land flat) as i did before ... which hurt! It wasnt a good call, i ended up a little too close to the foam pile than intended - plus i was a little bit upside down, which always sucks (especially when lots of tourists are watching).
We travelled north to Abel Tasman National Park. It's a stunning area of the country, beautiful stretches of golden beach skirted by thick, green forest. We did a multi-day teck here (just got back). We got a boat taxi 55kms up the coast, then spent the next three days walking back. Being such a short track it was more of a trott/walk (with plenty of photo-stops and talking to randoms) rather than a hike, but never-the-less was most enjoyed. The views were amazing, wildlife, sound of pretty birds, blah blah blah. Last night we met up with 4 girls and a guy at our campsite. They were from the 'Kiwi Experience' (a pampered bus tour for the rich and dim tourists), which made great entertainment.: The scene that they greeted us when we arrived at their campsite was golden; the guy was being matcho, cutting fire wood in a very unauthodox manner and with very limited success. Three of the girls were trying to opperate a gas stove that their coach had organised for them - one was frantically going through the intruction leaflet whilst the other to just looked hopelessly lost at the stove as if it'd just landed from space. The last girl was pegging in her tent ... which, at that time, did not resemble anything that looked remotely like a tent. It was a fantastic show which had us both in (very descrete) stitches. You just can't write comedy like that! They were really cool people though, and we had a really nice evening aroud the campfire.
Today was the only day of bad weather, and my gosh, it was bad weather! It poured all day. We were totally drenched by the time we got back to the car and well in need of dry clothes, warmth and something to eat - which we've promptly seen too, so im pretty happy now.
Doni and I left the Buller after two attempts at paddling; the first was a very low, sorry looking section of the Buller River. It was apparently a "bouncy grade 3/3+", however with a lack of rain in the area it was mainly grade 2 riffles with about three decent rapids in the whole 10kms. The next day we got as far as the put in for "The Earthquake Run" (sounds good doesnt it?), but it was too low to bother with. We did get one burst of excitement though; we ran Mauria Falls again - this was great fun, i tried a different technique this time; i decided to plug (pencil) it rather than boof (land flat) as i did before ... which hurt! It wasnt a good call, i ended up a little too close to the foam pile than intended - plus i was a little bit upside down, which always sucks (especially when lots of tourists are watching).
We travelled north to Abel Tasman National Park. It's a stunning area of the country, beautiful stretches of golden beach skirted by thick, green forest. We did a multi-day teck here (just got back). We got a boat taxi 55kms up the coast, then spent the next three days walking back. Being such a short track it was more of a trott/walk (with plenty of photo-stops and talking to randoms) rather than a hike, but never-the-less was most enjoyed. The views were amazing, wildlife, sound of pretty birds, blah blah blah. Last night we met up with 4 girls and a guy at our campsite. They were from the 'Kiwi Experience' (a pampered bus tour for the rich and dim tourists), which made great entertainment.: The scene that they greeted us when we arrived at their campsite was golden; the guy was being matcho, cutting fire wood in a very unauthodox manner and with very limited success. Three of the girls were trying to opperate a gas stove that their coach had organised for them - one was frantically going through the intruction leaflet whilst the other to just looked hopelessly lost at the stove as if it'd just landed from space. The last girl was pegging in her tent ... which, at that time, did not resemble anything that looked remotely like a tent. It was a fantastic show which had us both in (very descrete) stitches. You just can't write comedy like that! They were really cool people though, and we had a really nice evening aroud the campfire.
Today was the only day of bad weather, and my gosh, it was bad weather! It poured all day. We were totally drenched by the time we got back to the car and well in need of dry clothes, warmth and something to eat - which we've promptly seen too, so im pretty happy now.
posted by ww andy at 10:54 PM
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