We had a couple of spots that needed to be crossed at low tide and we have to leave here early in the morning to also cross the next section with a couple of hours of low tide (5:30 AM). I think most people are planning to leave by 6:30 AM.
The hut is very full and it's a similar set-up to the last hut - 6 bunks across, 2 high in two bunkrooms. It gets dark by 7 PM so last night I was in my sleeping bag and reading and listening to music by 7:15 PM. Tonight I'm looking forward to doing the same.
4/05: I actually sat reading my book in the kitchen area until 8:15 PM last night, because I didn't want to disturb anyone in the bunkroom by reading in bed. I got up about 5:45 AM and we were hiking by 6:15. We decided to cross the mudflats in our sandals thinking there would be some spots with water deeper than our boots (even though it was low tide) and we were right. Good decision. Walking across the flats was beautiful with the sunrise turning the sky pink off to our right. The water on the mud flats reflected the pink sky and mountains and it was quite loevly. We knew it was supposed to rain today and we were able to hike for about 2 hours before it started. It then rained lightly for about an hour, and then came down in earnest for the next 2.75 hours. It's been along time since I hiked in this kind of of rain and it is really no fun. We didn't feel like stopping so we hiked straight through til we reached the car park at Wainui Bay, about 21 km. It was a long, wet hike up and down, lots of hills. We would be up on a hill overlooking the ocean and then the trail would go all the way down to the beach and then we'd walk along the beach for awhile, and then back up a hill.
They weren't small hills either, but I felt strong today (I usually feel stronger every other day) so I didn't mind hiking today. It would have been really beautiful without the rain. It definitely was the nicest section of the Abel Tasman Track.
We got to the car park with a 1.75 hour wait for our bus. Luckily, there were some people there who were catching the noon bus (from another bus company, so we couldn't take it) who told us it was a little drier over by the bathrooms than where we were standing under a little pavillion.
We went over to the bathrooms and made ourselves very comfortable. We changed into some dry clothes, used our Esbit stove to heat hot water for tea and hot chocolate and ate some lunch.
The bus showed up right on time and it was a long bus ride back to Nelson. We got to Nelson about 5:15 PM but the bus drops everyone where they are staying in Nelson and we wanted to get off at the bus station, so we were the last stop about 5:30 PM.
We quickly went to use the internet, then got chicken and chips (french fries) to take back to the hostel for dinner. It wasn't raining for our 1/2 mile walk back to the hostel, but it started again just as we arrived and it is pouring out now.
Boy, a shower and doing laundry was great. Nothing like clean, dry clothes on a clean body after hiking 3 hours in the rain. Dinner was delicious too.
