Abel Tasman Coastal Track

In 1642 Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer, landed at the northern beachheads of the south island and didn't even get out of his boat (since 4 of his men were killed by Maori warriors). But that didn't stop the Kiwis from naming a national park after him. The 3500 acre park runs along the North coast and gives way to stunning views of the coastline (I say stunning, Chris wasn't all that impressed). Whereas many tourists choose to take a water taxi and walk a small portion of the track, we opted to walk for 3 days to cover more ground. During the second day we both developed blisters, but Chris initially refused to dole out the carefully-rationed blister bandaids "until it's bleeding". I whined and I won.

The well worn path takes you from bay to bay, bringing you across beaches and through esturaries. That may sound romantic to some of you, but having a heavy pack makes it less like a moonlight stroll with your honey and more like a physical fitness test in fifth grade gym class. The coolest part of the trip was figuring out when to cross the flooding inlets due to high tides. Our days had to be timed just right to avoid wading through waist-deep water. Occassionally we had to remove our shoes, hike up our pants and work our way through the shallowest areas to get to our destination.