Route Maps
There are 9 Great Walks in New Zealand. In 2015 we walked the Routeburn and Milford Track and in 2016 we walked the Routeburn again and the Kepler Track. This year. 2017 we’re walking the Abel Tasman and Heaphy Track in the north of the south Island.
Gear
Gear List NZ 2017
Makeshift Notes and map of Abel Tasman Coast
I’m trying to keep the total weight of the back pack down to 8kg. But it’s difficult when we need to carry sleeping bags, pillows, and food, enough for 5 days and 4 nights - and of course the red wine. The job was made easier this year when I decided to leave behind my computer - firstly there’s no power in the huts, apart from solar power for a few hours of lighting each night, and my faithful MacBook Air is dying after 5 years of use and abuse on every trek since 2012. The battery only lasts for 20 minutes at most, so I decided it was a waste of weight and space to carry it just to use it for 20 minutes on the first night. Instead, I’m back to handwritten diaries which I hoped to write up when I get back to Oz and some 3 months later, here I am typing up wine drenched notes on the back of some scrap paper
Getting to New Zealand
We were due to leave for New Zealand Wednesday March 8th. However sadly and tragically our young nephew passed away on Saturday March 4th and we delayed our trip until after the Funeral on Tuesday March 14th. Family comes first. However, because the Abel Tasman Walk is a Coastal walk, we were able to fly to Auckland, then to Nelson then hop, step and jump our way along the coast by water taxi to the last hut of the 5 day walk. So we saw all of the beautiful Abel Tasman beaches from a catamaran, fully inclusive of a running commentary by a member of the crew.