The Great Walks - The Abel Tasman Coastal Track

Marcin and I were a little unsure of The Great Walks. The Great Walks in New Zealand are "premier tracks that pass through diverse and spectacular scenery. From native forests, lakes, and rivers to rugged mountain peaks, deep gorges and vast valleys", according to the Department of Conservation. In other words, the tracks are crowded with tourists groups, school groups, and any other groups you can think of. They aren't the type of hiking trail we normally like to go on.

We had plans to get on the Routeburn Track but it was totally booked until March. We were looking into it in late January. Since we couldn't get on that track we decided to hit the Caples Track, which was a pleasant walk in the same area as Routeburn, just one valley over. We started this track where the Routeburn ends and turned off at the last hut of the Great Walk. We were amazed by the conveniences of the hut - running water, FLUSH toilets, and 28 bunks in this large hut. This is why we were unsure of setting off on a Great Walk - it just didn't seem right to have flush toilets on a hiking trail.

  

 A paper plate version of my sister was carried everywhere in NZ. It is a family tradition, kind of. Anyway, this was at the pass on the Caples Track. 

 

Having Lunch at the Saddle 

Our uncertainty for Great Walks quickly blew over when we learned more about the Abel Tasman Coast Track. This 3-5 day track follows the northern coast in Abel Tasman National Park. The track is an easy coast walk - with a couple sections of planning due to tide changes. We were thinking of doing just a day trip in and out, but were convinced by a couple of our drivers that the entire walk is well worth the time and trouble. 

We set out early and beat the crowds. We were surprised by the lack of people on the trails. The first sections of the trail were in bush but still had excellent views of light blue sea and golden beaches. The track was more like a road - wide and hard packed. 

On the way out to the Abel Tasman Coast Track!

 

Lovely views along the Coastal Track

 Marcin and I did the treck in three days, because there were limited campsites available. You have to book The Great Walks far in advance, since they are so popular, but we were lucky. Our first camp was at Anchorage Camp (fitting for us). We got there super early in the day, but were happy to lay out on the beach and people watch. This camp is very busy, with water taxis, kayaks, groups, hikers, boaters, you name it! We both thought we would be annoyed by all the commotion at the camp, but being at the beach made us a bit more relaxed, I guess. 

 

 Excellent Views from our first camp

The second day was a bit longer, with a tide crossing that was only accessible at about 8:30 p.m. We started early again to beat the heat. Thankfully on this track we can take a couple hour break and hang out on the beach, if the sandflies don't eat you alive. We were at our campsite by 9:00 p.m.

 

Our view hiking along the golden sand beaches

 

 One of the many bridges along the track

The last day was just as good. There were a lot less people on the track and on the beaches, which made it feel a bit more isolated. Kayaks and water taxis don't go past a certain point, which makes for some great beach camping and hiking. A word of advice for anyone interested - book Mutton Cove campsite. We weren't able to because it was booked, but it is quiet and small beach camping. Looked inviting. The camping was very convenient, so much so that there were flush toilets and wifi (!!!) at Anchorage Camp. The other camps weren't as crowded, so if you'd like to avoid the crowds, maybe walk further the first day and avoid that area.

Overall, I would say this was one of our favorite hiking tracks. We were surprised how much we enjoyed and and I am glad that we were able to do the track in its entirety.

Crossing the tides

Nelson Lakes National Park -Roberts Ridge Track

Nelson Lakes National Park is located north of the South island. When we first arrived we experienced a relatively small earthquake. Already an exciting start! We decided to hike the Mt. Roberts Ridge, which follows a beautiful ridge line to a large hut. Here is more information on the Track if your are interested: http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/nelson-marlborough/angelus-hut-tracks-and-routes-brochure.pdf

We started early in the morning to beat the heat and to get up to the ridge via the long steep trail in the morning. Once we got up to the ridge, it was, of course, covered in clouds. Thankfully there was an emergency hut where we could wait out the clouds and eat lunch.

Once the clouds dissipated we got some wonderful views. The walk to the hut took about 5 hours and we had views the entire way.We recommend this hike because it was completely out of the bush and the views are spectacular. We were craving a ridge walk and this met our needs.

On the way back out we decided to go towards Speargrass hut, which had more river crossings and the trail was more in the bush. I, of course, fell in the river, back first. Also, a word of advice, be aware of bumble bees in this area. I was stung in the face before it flew directly into my mouth. ugh! They are attracted to blue and unfortunately I was wearing a lot of blue.

Here are a few pictures from the track.

Gillespie Pass and a Broken Ankle

After the Dusky Track Marcin and I were determined to get out of the bush and up in the mountains. We wanted to see some alpine views and good weather. We hitched to Gillespie Pass from Lake Wanaka, which is a gateway to the Southern Alps. We decided to take three days to do the Gillespie Pass Circuit (http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/otago/places/mount-aspiring-national-park/things-to-do/gillespie-pass-circuit/), which takes you up a beautiful pass, and another detour to an alpine lake.

A rest day in Lake Wanaka

An American named Miles picked us up in his rented campervan and took us to the trail head. As it turns out, he was doing the same hike. We started a bit late, so we hiked in just until the first campsite, which was only about 3 hours in. The temperature, time of day, and access to water made for some heavy, heavy sandfly invasions at the campsite. So we jumped in our tent and called it a night.

Bridge on the Gillespie pass trail

The next day we got up early and hiked another 3 hours to Young Hut. A large hut, with 20 bunks, we decided to stay the night there and just make a day trip to the pass. We were already a bit disappointed with the trail since a lot of it was in the bush, so our expectations were very low.

However, as it turned out, as soon as we left the hut we climbed up to the pass and had some incredible views! The climb was very steep and slow going. But thankfully we had beautiful weather with little to no wind. We got to the pass and took a long break taking photos and just taking in the mountain air. This was much better than the Dusky Track. This is exactly what we wanted.

Mt. Awful looming behind us...

On the way back to the hut we ran into an Israeli couple who were in need of help due to a broken ankle. The ankle was twice the size and he was in pain. Unfortunately, we didn't have a phone or any way to call for help. They had another friend who went to the next hut to see if he could call for help. We were about 30 minutes away from the hut, with a good ankle. Marcin thought that maybe he could help carry the injured man to the hut. It took multiple tries but it was just too dangerous to carry him to the hut. Plus we didn't really need to. He had water, food, and we had an extra tent that we could let him borrow. We stopped at a nice flat spot where a helicopter could easily land and Marcin and I ran back to the hut to grab the tent to lend to them. 

When we got back to the tent, their friend had already called for a helicopter. Marcin took the bright orange fly of our tent and ran back to the injured party and spread it out so the helicopter could easily spot them. A few hours later, they were picked up and taken to the hospital. It was an unexpected end to our day, but it also made me tread a bit more carefully. 

Hitch hiking in NZ

We knew we wanted to focus on tramping in New Zealand, so our usual holiday of cycling was not an option. We were also told the roads were narrow and winding and that the Kiwi drivers were a little less than cautious. Marcin has talked about doing a hitch hiking holiday since our first time hitching in the UK. We hitched a few times successfully in Wales and unsuccessfully in Scotland.

There is no better place than New Zealand to hitch hike. It is safe, people are kind and generous, and, surprisingly, there are a lot of hitch hikers. So on January 16, we packed up everything we needed for the next month and a half in our backpack and started to "thumb it" to the next destination. 

A lot of the drivers that picked us up were Kiwi. Our first couple drivers were farmers . Dairy is New Zealand`s number one business besides tourism. As a result of hitch hiking, we learned a lot about the local economy, the process of dairy farming, local politics, and so much more. The locals gave us advice of what hikes to do and led us to a good place to pick up the next ride. We experienced disappointment from drivers when we said we weren't going too far. Many drivers wanted company on their long and radio-less drives. 

If you or anyone you know are planning on hitching through NZ a word of advice: be prepared to wait few hours on the West Coast. Be patient, it is worth it.  The West Coast holds our record for wait time of two hours. But our average  pick-up time was about 45 minutes. The difference with the West Coast is that the local population is sparse and traffic is mostly tourists. 

But as it turned out, it paid to wait. Dennis picked us up by Haas Pass on the West Coast. He was from England and was traveling alone. He picked us up and was happy to have some company on the road. We accompanied him for the next two days, all the way to our destination of Nelson Lakes National Park! It was a long wait, but worth it to not hitch for the next two days. 

New Zealand has been a great hitch hiking experience for us. Although, I probably wouldn't hitch hike in any other country and am currently happy to have two wheels instead of none, it was a fantastic experience. We were able to meet people from all over the world and learn far more about the country than if we had bicycled. Overall we took one bus out of Christchurch and for the rest of the time we hitched. Again, we waited an average of 45 minutes, but we were usually picked up within 20 minutes.

Tramping in New Zealand

Marcin left for New Zealand in December to attempt Mount Cook. This time of year was supposedly the season to climb Mount Cook - spring south of the equator. The route is covered with crevasses, so care had to be taken to follow the right path towards the summit. After about two weeks on the mountain, unfortunately, Marcin and his partner did not summit. But he, of course, vows to be back and plans to go earlier in the season when it is not as warm. 

I did not arrive in NZ until January 16 so Marcin had a lot of free time on his hands. In the mean time he decided to hike a good chunk of the Te Araroa, NZ's Long Trail (http://www.teararoa.org.nz). The trail goes from north to south through both islands and is relatively new.  Marcin completed three weeks on this trail from around Queenstown to Rangitata Gorge on the south Island. He said the trail was a bit remote compared to the other tracks we did.

Te Araroa trail

Fortunately Marcin wasn't alone the whole time. He met up with an Alaska friend and did a week of hiking in Kahurangi National Park. 

A friend of ours recommended the Dusky Track when we asked what are some must-do tramping tracks in New Zealand. So as soon as I got to New Zealand we made a plan to do the 10 day track. The Dusky Track (http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/fiordland/places/fiordland-national-park/things-to-do/tracks/dusky-track/) is located in Fiordland National Park between Lake Hauroko and Lake Manapouri. In order to access the track in either direction you need to hire a boat to get you there. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the average rainfall for Fiordland is 1200mm to 800mm or about 200 rainy days a year. And boy did we experience rain. 

Some before pictures- before we were wet and muddy. You can already see the uncertainty in my face! 

We started our treck with 6 other people. There was no camping on this trail. The terrain was just to wet, muddy, and rooty (if that's a word) from the trees. The huts are small compared to other tramping tacks - they have a sleeping limit of about 12 people. 

The trail was wet and overgrown. I joked with Marcin that we had better not stand in one spot too long or we would be covered in moss. The trees were huge canopies that created a canyon-like track. The mud and downed trees were consistent throughout the trip. At one point I stepped in mud up to my knees. Since then, I have heard that the track can be worse than what we experienced - mud up to the thighs! The downed trees were another challenge. Due to the weather and unstable earth, there were a lot of trees. It took 10 to 15 mintues to climb through, under, or around these masses of chaos in the middle of the trail. 

One of 6 huts on the Dusky

#hutlife

climbing down some roots

so. much. growth. 

Day two on the track we finally got above the trees. Like I wrote earlier, it was like stepping out of a cave and seeing light again. Granted, it wasn't sunny, not in the slightest. We were lucky though, it didn't really start pouring until we got to the hut. 

This hut was our favorite because of the lack of sandflies. Have I mentioned the sandflies yet? Sandflies are as bad as mosquitoes in Northern Alaska. They bite and you won't even know it until two days later when you are itching incessantly. The little bastards leave welts on some people and can even leave scars depending on how much you itch. For me, the worse was at night when I would itch in my sleep and start bleeding. On the Dusky Track they were the worst. They would be so bad that we had to rush to kick off our boots at the end of the day outside the hut. They relish in muggy weather and around water. It was so bad we were inhaling them. 

The days that followed were rainy. It rained every day we were on the trail. If it wasn't raining it was drizzling. We waited out the third day due to rain and knew there would be a three-wire bridge crossing that had a potential to flood. There are 21 three-wire bridges along the whole trail. It is not always necessary to cross them as you can usually cross the creek if it low and there is good access. But the access to this three-wire bridge was flooded. We had to walk through chest-deep water to get to the bridge and that was just the beginning of pur flooding issues. 

getting to the three-wire bridge

one of the 21 bridges

only views on the track

The next day and night brought torrential downpours. The hut was nestled between a lake and a river. The trail was flooded in all directions. So much so that we read accounts of trampers that didn't wait out the weather and had to swim in sections. 

We waited out the flood for two nights. The water finally receded enough to continue on. The trail was more of the same. There were two passes above tree line that I am sure were beautiful if it weren't for the socked-in weather. We made it out on the 9th day. There are a total of 6 huts on the track or 7 if you decide to do a detour. We wondered why the description said the track can take up to 10 days but now we get it- leave time for floods. 

Overall we both said we wouldn't recommend this track- even if we had good weather. We were eager to get out of the bush and see some views. A majority of the track was in the canopy of trees, roots, moss, and deep dark bush. We were only above tree line twice during the 9 days and we soon found out that a majority of the tracks in NZ were in the bush. 

Overall we completed 7 overnight tracks during my 7 weeks in New Zealand. More to come on the other tracks and our experiences hitchhiking throughout the South Island.  

 

Map of our cycle route

I've been wanting to create a map that shows the route we took while cycling. Now that I'm more familiar with this program, I'll be able to use it for our future trips. The link is below details the map. There were a couple instances where we had to take a train in order to get across a bridge, or a ferry, of course, from Sweden to Denmark. Otherwise, we cycled this entire route - 3,000 miles in 2 months.

Kate and Martin's Cycle Route through Europe

Final Thoughts on Cycling through Europe

Now that we are back in the United States, I thought it'd be nice to share (finally!) some final thoughts on our journey so far.

The easiest cycling experience in a country we visited in was Germany, with Holland a close second. The German bicycle lanes and signs are everywhere. Signage directs you to any town you need to go to and gives you routes through small, less traveled roads.  You can tell that bicycling has been a part of the German culture, not only for tourism but also a way to get from point A to point B, for a very long time. The cycling system in Germany is not new.  In addition, there were usually direct ways to get to our destination. In addition, compared to the other countries we visited, German landscape had a lot more variety in the landscape. We started in Munich and cycled through the bavarian alps, to the hilly romantic road, and to cycling along flat river paths and cities. The terrain was interesting and changed a lot in the north, which made for interesting cycling. Pictured below of me cycling in the Bavarian alps. 

Holland had amazing bike lanes and signs but it usually took extra kilometers to get to our destination. The routes seemed to be designed with tourists in mind and took the scenic way around cities, lakes, and canals.  Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful routes, but when we are cycling an average of 100km a day, we just want the most direct way possible. The scenery in Holland did not change much. Cycling over bridges and navigating the system of canals continued throughout the small country. The bike lanes were amazing. Every day was exciting, because I knew that we wouldn't have to deal with busy roads or highways. These cycling paths were completely out of the way and very safe. Pictured below is me in Holland and an example of the excellent cycling paths.

Southern Belgium and Luxembourg proved to be a challenge, especially compared to Germany and Holland. The impression that Luxembourg left on us was sour to say the least. The people were less than hospitable. We left Germany thinking Luxembourg would be an excellent country to cycle in, but boy were we wrong. If you are looking for sports cars, this is the place. Are you looking to avoid taxes? Bring your money to Luxembourg. Cycling? Don't come here. No bike lanes. Barely a bicycle culture. People shout from cars, for no apparent reason.

When we first entered Belgium from Luxembourg, we were encouraged by the bike lanes in front of us. Unfortunately that only lasted for five or so kilometers. It was a tease. We took a main road all the way to Brussels, and that may have been a mistake but it was also the more direct way and less hilly. Southern Belgium is covered in hills so cycling is always up and down, up and down. The road we cycled goes through small towns but then shifts into a highway outside of the communities. As I described in an earlier post, sometimes there would be no shoulder at all. Similar to Luxembourg, it didn't seem like southern Belgium had much of cycling culture at all.

Northern Belgium was completely different. Cycling was a lot easier in Antwerp, even compared to Brussels. It may be because of their neighbor, Holland.

Overall, the trip was an amazing experience. Martin and I were really impressed with the kindness of people in all of the countries we visited.  We had wonderful experiences visiting and meeting with locals and learning more about each culture. Europe, however, is crowded. There are no open spaces in Europe. We count our blessings every day in the U.S. that we have opportunities to explore without the crowds and get lost in nature. It seems to be nearly impossible to do that in the countries we visited.

Traveling by bicycle is something that we are going to continue to do. It allows us to slow down and see the country, city, or community intimately. In fact, after being back in the U.S. for a few weeks we are already planning our next bicycle adventure in Australia! We will be cycling the east coast of Australia for three months - March - June 2016, Melbourne to Brisbane. Stay tuned!