Abel Tasman National Park

Wednesday, 29 October

When I booked my trip into Abel Tasman National Park last night the company said they cancelled all kayaking trips for the next day due to the terrible weather forecast. So I went with a long boat ride along the coast of the park and a drop-off for a 10km hike and pick-up later in the afternoon. As it turns out, when I woke up the weather was sunny - of course! ;)

Heading to the water taxi in the morning.

Above is "Split Apple Rock" - speaks for itself.

Beautiful coastline - the camera really doesn't capture it!

An hour into the morning boat ride, however, the NZ weather decided to show what it's made of. Storm clouds blew in from the west over the mountains and the winds picked up. I was glad not to be on a kayak at that moment..!

The boat took us all the north up to Totaranui, and then went back south again and at about 11am dropped myself, along with a few others, off at Medlands Bay. From there I hiked along the coast with a sweet 18-year old German girl, Jasmine, 10km to where the boat again picked us up at Anchorage Bay. It was a really nice walk through the green forest - took about 3 and a half hours - and the first half of that it rained like crazy.

Managed to take a couple rain photos without the lens getting too wet...

Right when we got to a beach area the sky started to clear. We literally watched the blue sky come in and push the clouds out.

My hiking campanion, Jasmine, on her gap year.

Grandpa and Grandma, took this one for you. Not sure what kind of bird it is, but was quite pretty... ;)

I love these giant tree ferns!

At the end of the hike the weather converted back to clouds and rain. I'm no longer surprise by this and can now confirm that when Kiwis say the weather in NZ can change in an instant, it's 100% true. I can't imagine the grief weather people must suffer in this country...!! :)

Beautiful day in the park - I would love to do more of this trail someday!

Nelson to Motueka

Tuesday, 28 October

Really pleasant ride today. I rode from David and Ann’s house along the coast on the Great Taste Trail – a new trail that runs all the way from Nelson to Kaiteriteri, near the entrance to Abel Tasman National Park.

The 60km trail includes a short ferry ride from Rabbit Island across to Mapua, and then a nice ride into Matueka.

I'm doing pretty good with the selfies, yeah?

Along the way I stopped for a late lunch at Jester House Café and Tame Eels – a recommendation from my Warmshowers hosts in Wellington (they actually got married here!). It was a perfect stop. Kind of a homey/earthy/eclectic-feeling place (complete with a composting toilet and everything). I had THE most amazing potato smoked fish and pea hash with capers… I don’t buy meals often but when I do I seem to always order the right thing. Amazing! Washed that down with a pot of tea and a treat – I earned it, right?! Haha

The rain came at 4pm right as I was leaving lunch, and persisted for the next 8km into Motueka. By the time arrived there I was perfectly happy not to continue on to Kaiteriteri (another 14km) and instead went to my first backpackers hostel – the White Elephant (hmm… Rabbit Island and the White Elephant in one day… you’d think I was in Cambodia!). Really cozy place (as I type this I’m on a couch under a blanket by a wood fire!). Had some really great quality time with the Lord at night (there are always people around me to meet and talk with, so even when cycling alone it can be hard to find/make time for devo time), and had some good chats with some of the people staying here (most are here on working visas so are picking fruit and working in shops… I feel so OLD! Most of the people I meet are still teenagers on their gap year or just finished uni!!).

Nice to be in a warm place and warm bed tonight. J

Rain and cold and hills!

Monday, 27 October

Woke up to rain rain rain this morning. The good thing was that my tent proved to be a very good one – I, along with all my stuff, was perfectly dry, and by the time I had breakfast and packed up, the rain had more or less decreased to a drizzle.

Looked at the guys’ amazing videos after breakfast (they have incredible GoPro footage of mountain climbing, beach walking and jungle trekking), then said good-bye and headed out.

The ride from Havelock to Nelson was just under 70km and there were two large hills to conquer. There’s something about riding in grey, cold and windy conditions that makes riding up hills seem more challenging than normal. In the end I always make it up… slow and steady. The rides down were COLD (because inside my rain jacket my shirts are wet with sweat, and when I’m riding fast down hills it makes for a chilly cruise!). The wind was really strong, and as trucks pulling boats rode past me with gusts of wind blowing at the same time, I had to slow way down to maintain control at times. It really did feel good, though, to get back on the road again for a longer stretch.

I arrived just north of Nelson at 4:30pm – an hour and a half before my Warmshowers hosts would be home. Since they live north of the city and there was no place warm to go and sit for an hour, I stopped in at the local Four Square (small grocery store chain) and used their bathroom to put on dry clothes – and the guy working there made me a cup of hot coffee.

Being warm again, I sat outside and caught up on emails until 6, when I headed to David and Ann’s house. Super cool American family, super into every kind of cycling imaginable. Their 13 year-old daughter is a very serious road bike racer and their garage was full of bikes!

Ann made three incredible pizzas and I so enjoyed talking with them over such an awesome dinner. Really great hosts!! I can't wait til I get to spoil all my Warmshowers visitors in Phnom Penh just as I've been spoiled by my Warmshowers hosts here... I now fully appreciate the somewhat comical name "Warmshowers"... it only really makes sense once you are on the road yourself!

QCT Days 2 & 3

Saturday, 25 October

Beautiful day all day! I took the track slow today: I only had about 22km to ride and although it had lots of hills, it wasn’t that much so I wanted to enjoy the journey instead of rush through the track. There were some incredible viewing points:

That would be a Weka bird...not afraid of anyone or anything. Just wants your food (aka that apple on the table)!

Above is a view of the Queen Charlotte Sound.

No panniers!

Lunch usually consists of peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Occasionally mix it up with some hummus.

At the end of my day I met Naresh and Rory (the British guy from camp the night before) who were continuing on for the rest of the afternoon – chatted for a bit, then found my bags, set up my tent, and walked to the lodge nearby for a drink and some blogging time.

Perfect afternoon to sit in the sun!

Sunday, 26 October

Finished the track today – the initial climb was really steep and I spent much of the first hour pushing my bike up! The ride down was also steep and I also walked some of that too – I’m not a very technical rider, and was not interested in accidentally cruising over a cliff! After the one big hill the last 15km of the track was really good fun and I blazed through it.

At the end of the track I had to wait a bit for my bags to arrive, and once they did headed west towards Havelock on my way to Nelson. 

In Havelock I went to a camp site and there I met Naresh and Dan again. Was great to hang out with them again and hear more about what they’re up to.

Queen Charlotte Track Beginning - Day 1

Friday, 24 October

Woke up early to ride the 30km back to Picton to catch my 10am water taxi to the Queen Charlotte Track – a roughly 70km track exclusively for walkers and cyclists that runs alongside the Queen Charlotte Sound. Just so you can see, here’s where the track is:

This was high on my priority list to do in NZ. It’s a popular track for mountain biking, and the water taxis make actual mountain biking possible for a touring cyclist carrying panniers because the taxis carry your bags and drop them off at your campsite each night. Perfect.

The weather was COLD. Yesterday during my winery tour the weather was warm, sunny and 20. Today, the weather was cold, rainy and less than 10 degrees. The boat ride over was cold, but once I got moving on the trail everything but my fingers recovered. I had about 22km to my campsite, and it was a nice ride with great views – and at the same time a difficult track to ride in the rain. The rocks and roots were slippery, and the slopes next to the track were steep. I took it slow and even though I didn’t want to keep stopping to take pics in the rain, I couldn’t help it – so much beauty around me!

Made it to the camp wet and muddy, set up my tent (by myself, officially for the first time! Haha) and walked down the coast to a little bar on the water and treated myself to a hot cup of tea and read a book. J

Back at camp, I cooked dinner along with 5 Swiss uni students studying English in NZ, and three guys (1 Indian, 1 American and 1 British) two of whom are walking from the most northern point of NZ to the very southernmost tip – in socks and sandals called Bedrock Sandals – put a plug in there for you Dan (he started the company with a friend through Kickstarter), and they swear by them – they climbed snowy Mount Tongariro a couple weeks ago in them... They walked the whole north island in 42 days…

As I was talking to Naresh, he made some off-handed comment about writing to his good friend, Francis Chan, who’s an author… ever heard of him? He wrote a great book called Crazy Love and others – read him! J Turns out that Naresh – who worked for several years in Silicon Valley in IT world, made an app for IJM that everyone in the field will be using soon (if not already? Lisa do you know about this?). He’s the only Christian in his family, who are all back in India and who he’s been supporting since he got a scholarship to study in the States. Naresh is a long distance runner (ran across TN in just a few days…) and gets his high from climbing mountains and doing things people tell him he couldn’t possible do.

We spoke the same language (not the crazy mountain climbing in sandals and long distance running language…) – the language of someone who absolutely loves Jesus and lives to know him more. It was really refreshing to talk with him, and I felt very encouraged. It’s been three weeks since I’ve talked in any depth to another Christian here about faith stuff, and it was really cool to swap stories of what God is doing in our lives through the travels and adventures both back home and in NZ. So thanks for that Naresh. J