Bring on Abel Tasman, New Zealand

 

The first camping venture that Frankki and I did together was in Abel Tasman on the northwestern corner of the southern island. Abel Tasman is one of New Zealand's 7 designated "great walks" and we knocked out the 40km+ venture in 24 hours...not that we didn't want to enjoy the beautiful scenery...but because we are fit and crazy and we can :)

 

One of the aspects of the Abel Tasman hike that makes it so interesting is that there are multiple sections of the trail that can only be crossed within 2 hours of low tide. Here are Frankki and I on the morning of the second day crossing a long flat stretch that would be under several feet of water within hours.

 

Some parts of the crossing were already under water and we took off our boots and walked through the chilly morning water over a bed of small shells. This picture is of Frankki making her way in the early morning sunlight.

 

The ripples in the sand were beautiful

 

I am not really in a chronological kind of mood, so thank you for bearing with me. Here is dinner the first night. Upon inspection it appears to be some sort of pasta with alfredo sauce and tuna fish...and a bottle of wine. I can tell you we were less appreciative of the bottle of wine after walking 20+ miles of up/down terrain, but were determined not to carry it any further and shared it with some young french friends at our camp site who showed us a magical glow worm cave just off the beach. We went into this cave and were under a mini starry sky and then emerged into the universe and were under a much larger starry sky.

 

Here is a picture of Frankki standing in the ocean waiting for the ferry taxi that will pick us up on this beach in another 20min. The cold water felt good on our joints.

I am very fond of this picture...I feel all smily inside