Hello friends, family, and fellow travellers! My latest adventure took me out to Abel Tasman National Park where I did a fantastic 3 day trek along some of the most spectacular coastal scenery I've ever seen! Bought a hut pass for $6 a night, stocked up on some food and as little else as possible and set out down the trail. The trek is amazing, winding along the coast and overlooking the most amazing sea-green water with golden beaches. The water here actually glitters!
My first day would take about 3-4 hours walking to reach Anchorage where I would spend the night. No big deal, right? Well, after a couple of hours, I stopped to have a bite to eat and thought, hmmm....my feet kind of hurt. But not too bad, so I blew it off. Trudge on, little camper. Anyway, long story short. By the time I arrive at Anchorage, I have 2 of the MOST ENORMOUS blisters in the history of the world - one on each heel - and am in excruciating pain. Pretty comical, in retrospect. Not fun at all at the time. Soaked the ole tootsies in the ocean and cursed my Timberlands in several different languages before settling down for a freezing cold night next to a guy who snored like a rutting hog. Needless to say, I didn't sleep all too well and awoke with a massive headache. Not the best start to the day. I bandage my heels, gulp down some aspirin, and figure I shall persevere but, alas, was too crippled to get very far at all. (I did, however, manage to step off into a deceptively shallow looking stream and completely soak my boots which did little to help the friction on my heels. Pure genius.) I end up hailing a water taxi to come to my rescue and take me over to Awaroa, which is actually probably the coolest thing I did because we ended up seeing dolphins and fur seals on the way which was awesome! The dolphins came right up around the boat and checked us out and, as always, I was completely enchanted. The fur seals were precious and, for whatever reason, reminded me of Fafner (my weenie dog back home who I love more than anything, for those of you who are not familiar with the mighty Faf!) As a bonus, there happened to be a doctor (a very attractive doctor, by the by, and very married, of course) on the boat who was nice enough to treat my wounds and take care of my poor little feet. Everyone on the boat was horrified at the sight of my feet. I was, at this point, just highly irritated. You can't imagine what a major inconvenience (not to mention general pain in the ass) it is to not be able to walk properly!
Anyway, rested up at Awaroa and had an excellent evening sitting in the lodge by the fireplace and visiting with the doctor and his wife and a couple from England who had come to visit them. Also talked to the electrician who was doing some repair work around the place and he got way out there talking about alien life forms and time travel and ultraviolet radiation and how the U.S. is conspiring to keep aliens under cover, yadda, yadda, yadda. Very strange guy, indeed. Overall, had a lovely evening and after a day of rest and some proper bandaging, walked out the next day and headed over to Takaka.
After my Abel Tasman adventure, I came back to Nelson and started helping out at the Palace Backpackers in exchange for a bed. As a bonus to working there, I get to do some of the activities for free so I went sea kayaking yesterday and had a wickedly good time! Great fun!
Went to a pyro-technics show last night with 2 of my new roomies. Miles and Phil are, well, I'm not sure how to describe them, groovy guys. Miles has been travelling for 12 years! That's right. 12 years. He's been EVERYWHERE! Got some crazy stories to tell and, of course, heaps of good advice as well. Phil is beautiful to look at but has this sort of bizarre personality and sense of humor that I haven't quite adapted to. It may just be that he is perpetually stoned. I haven't quite put my finger on it yet. They're both kind of out there but, basically, very sweet so I've been hanging out with them for the past couple of days. Will be here for a few more days to see the Wearable Arts show and see Gish on his birthday and then will be off down the West Coast. You'll hear all about it, of course, of course. Take care as always and much love!
Kodie
