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After having an amazing Christmas with Dave and all his housemates we headed to Vive's house for a night. Vive is friends with Dave and lives in a really nice area of nelson near the outskirts in the hills looking over Nelson and the sea. We had a lovely chilled evening there chatting, eating yummy peppered steak and having an early night on her sofa bed for a change from the van! The Able Tasmin National Park is north west from Nelson and a beautiful drive up the weather was pretty misty and drizzly but still stunning. We found a good freesite just north of Takaka by the Waitapu Bridge. We met a nice guy called Gilbert there who told us that there was a stunning beach up at the top of golden bay. We woke up early to beautiful sunshine and knew that it might not last so we jumped into the front seats and headed north. We drove up to the spit of the golden bay first and walked up the sand for a whole watching the oyster catchers. Then we drove to the beach. It was stunning, you have to walk to the beach though some dunes filled with grass and trees then you come to miles of beautiful white sand dune hills rolling up and down until you get to the sea. It was a great spot to chill out for the day. We then travelled down the coast turning left at Takaka stopping along the coat at Takapou for James to shave some of his beard off and for me to trim his hair as he had decided to run the Abel Tasman Costal Track the next day. We camped the night at the Start of the track at Wainui Bay. Because the track has some pretty hefty tidal crossings we realised that to run the whole thing in one day (it usually takes 4 days!) he would have to leave at 4am!!! We woke to torrential rain and howling winds in the pitch black! I must admit i was worried about him leaving by himself with no phone signal, but he waterproofed up, put on his bag and head torch and set into the wet and windy darkness. I was pretty jealous that James was getting to see the beautiful coastline that can only be accessed by boat or the track but my ankle still wasn't fully healed and I had the very important job of driving the van to the end of the track! After sleeping some more I got up and met 2 American girls who had just finished the track and were huddling under the shelter. I offered them a lift to their car at the end of the track, they accepted and we were on our way! It was awesome to have company in the van. We chatted all the way to Marahau. They were both working at Palmerston North University on the North Island and were quite sad as their 3 year contracts had run out and they had to leave NZ soon. I dropped them off and decided to have a coffee at the cafe at the end of the track. It was about 11am so I decided to walk a little up the track as the sun had come out. I was a bit worried that I had left too early as I did not want to walk on my ankle too long but wanted to see James on the track. But 15mins in there he was speeding down the track, looking exhausted and hobbling on his feet! His feet were soaking still from the rain at 4am and the tidal crossings! It had only taken him 7:30 hours to complete a 54km track that takes most 'normal' people 4 days! I was a very proud girlfriend! James said it started off dark wet cold and windy and after half an hour his feet were soaking wet but couldn't change his shoes and socks as he had 3 more river tidal crossings to go! Half way round the sun came up to reveal picturesque beaches deep blue coves and tree lines surrounding the white sand. It was hard at the time but after he recovered he found it an amazing and rewarding experience!
We treated ourselves to a nice serviced campsite with hot showers for the night in Motueka. James chilled and dozed for the afternoon and I cooked us a nice stodgy carbfilled dinner in the community kitchen. The next morning we were slow to get up and Then we headed to the coast to see if we could catch some fish! We had no luck as it was windy and the tide was strong but fun all the same. And after, yet again we decided to grab some fish and chips for lunch :) Further down the coast we found a nice spot on a beach to sun ourselves and look out to the Abel Tasman. We didn't stay long though as it was New Year's Eve and we needed to make our way back down to Nelson to see Dave and the housemates!
- comments
Alice I think James might be a robot!