Sofie and I left Picton early Sunday morning to go to Nelson. We realized that our journeys were going in the same direction so we decided to travel a bit together. When we arrived in Nelson, we checked into our hostel early afternoon and walked around town. The last few towns that i had been to were rather small and did not have much going on. Nelson was the opposite. There were tons of shops and restaurants and bars all around our hostel. so we decided to stay for 3 nights instead of 2. The first thing we wanted to do was go on another hike through Abel Tasman National Park. After our 10.5km walked on the Queen Charlotte Track, we decided to up the distance to 12km on the Abel Tasman. So far, we have lucked out with the weather for our hikes. Once again, the weather was sunny and warm and beautiful. It was an hour bus ride to the water taxi and then another 30 min water taxi ride to the start of the track. The taxi dropped us off on a beach with crystal clear water and golden sand. The beach bum in me wanted to just sit my ass down and sunbathe for the 6 hours BUT i did not travel around the world to sunbathe. so we started walking. the track wasnt very difficult and was more carved out than the Queen Charlotte. You could tell more visitors walk this track than the other. Even though the beach was gorgeous, my only complaint was that there was not many lookout points to stop and take pictures. we wrre in the rainforest and undercover for most of the walk. one part of the track that opens up onto the beach was Torrent Bay. We sat here for 30 mins to eat our lunch. Torrent Bay has an inter4esting history. The Abel Tasman became a national park in 1942. before that, it was open land that the government owned. the government surveyed the land and didnt think it had much worth so it sold off some property for dirt cheap money. locals bought the land and built houses on it. there are only approx 20 houses on this beach. when the government turned the Abel Tasman into a national park, they stopped all building rights so no more homes could be built. Today, the smallest house on that beach, probably a 1 BR hut, it worth over $1 million dollars. Now, there are even bigger homes on this beach so i could not imagine what they would be worth today! Can you imagine...builing a house 60 years ago for little to no money and finding out that your home today is worth $1 million +...that is crazy!! there are obviously no roads and no supermarkets here so any one that does live on this island has to take a boat ride into the local town to get groceries. however, most of these homes today are just holiday homes. Anyways, it took Sofie and I 5 hours to walk the 12km so with a little over an hour to spare, we layed in the sand and took a nap. My feet were bladly blistered after this walk and werent completely healed from the Queen Charlotte track but to say I hiked some of the most beautiful tracks in the world, the blisters were worth it.
The next day, we were off to the town of Franz Josef so we could take a Glacier Hike. Franz Josef is located about mid way down the western coast of NZ. The bus ride was a long 8 hours but we stopped a few times along the way to get breakfast and lunch. once we arrived at our hostel, it was pouring rain and the temperatures were about 20 degrees colder than in the north. We found out that the next day was the only day it wasnt going to rain so we immediately booked our glacier hike. That night, we sat in the common room with a group of girls from Canada and watched Lord of the Rings. One of our flat mates, Kevin, was taking the glacier hike as well and offered to drive us to the pick up point, saving us the $30 shuttle ride. The 3 of us were a team and walked the glacier together, taking pictures and laughing the entire time. I wore 4 layers of clothing and 2 layers of socks expecting the atmosphere at the glacier to be cold and i sweated the entire time. the sun was out once again and the glacier was beautiful! we walked to it and on it for 2 hours, exploring caves and even drinking glacial water. this trip was amazing and by far my favorite thing i have done so far while being here. this half day trip had us back in our hostel in time for free homemade vegetable sou. our last night in Franz Josef, we decided to finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the common room and went to bed. Our bus the next morning left at 7am to Queenstown, another 8 hour bus ride south.
