We have decided to hike, rather than kayak, along the Abel Tasman, another of New Zealand's "great walks." We figured we would finish our planning up in Nelson, at the top of the North Island.

Other than being named for my brother-in-law, the town of Nelson itself was a bit unremarkable for us. We had high hopes, but other than orchards and wineries (we've got them in Virginia) and bling bling bed and breakfasts, it didn't have much to offer the average backpacker. We spent a little time in town, although we realized later that it might have been a better idea to spent time at Nelson Lakes National Park, which would have offered some good hiking and even some cheap kayaking. Alas, that's what happens with last-minute spur-of-the-moment planning.

Instead, we got out of dodge in hopes of better pastures, and we found them in a little town near the Abel Tasman called Motueka. This is a tiny little town based also on the local wineries and orchards, but it had a much more inviting feel compared with Nelson. We hung out for a good chunk of the day and landed at a great little cafe to finalize our planning. There, we met an expat from Canada who gave us some great travel trips for the north island.

That night we drove to the parking lot of the boat company that will ferry us to the Abel Tasman track (the Abel Tasman is a 55 kilometer "Great Walk" that hugs a beautiful stretch of marine national park in the northern section of the South Island).

We woke up the next day in time to put the rest of our things together and grab our tickets for the water taxi. There are several spots along the Abel Tasman track where water taxis drop off and pick up customers who are planning to hike, picnic, and/or kayak. This track requires unique planning, since during high tides portions of the trail are gone, requiring hikers to take more time around the water-logged areas.

Due to time constraints, we couldn't do the whole Abel Tasman, since it would require an extra night in the bush due to the tide schedule. So, we took the AquaTaxi to Tonga, approximately 41 kilometers from our car, and we began the hike back to the car. It felt very much like day one of Survivor. The taxi pulled up to an isolated beach, got as close as possible (but still requiring us to get our legs wet), dropped us off, and took off.

From there, it was up to us to locate the trail head (not hard) and begin the walk to our next stop, Anchorage Bay, where we planned to spend the night in a hostel called Aquapackers, a converted WWII boat situated right in the bay.

So, after the water taxi dropped us off, we dried off our feet and began the walk to Anchorage Bay. The hike wasn't as epic as the Routeburn, but we walked through beautiful second generation forest. Ascending and descending from beautiful bays with private beaches, we enjoyed stunning views of the Tasman Sea. The birds accompanied us, and periodically we stopped to enjoy their song.

By late afternoon we made it to Anchorage Bay, and the owner of AquaPackers, Chris, came out on the dingy to bring us to the hostel. We loaded up with a German mother/daughter pair, and in short order we were on board. Chris upgraded us from the basic dorm room to a double, which was a nice surprise.

Our foursome from the dingy joined up with those already on board: 3 med students from the UK, an American from California, and an Israeli/German duo who met a week earlier while traveling. We all hung out for a bit before Chris whipped up dinner.

Chris is a kiwi who used to work on a boat and decided one day to have a few people stay on board. It grew from there, and now he has two boats that combined hold up to 33 people.

It was near the end of the season, though, and, despite being a great guy, it was evident that Chris was burned out. Just after dinner, he announced that he had some friends on another boat, and that he was going to take off. He asked that we turn the lights out when the time came and use the honor system to grab beers or wine. He tossed a chocolate bar onto the table for dessert, and then, boom, he was gone. So, we all hung out after dinner, talked about our travels, and had a great time.

Later that night, two guys from another boat rode over on their dingy and boarded. Once we felt sure that they were buddies of Chris' and not some sort of Kiwi pirates, we relaxed a bit. They hung out with us and shared some wine from the local vineyard where they worked. They stayed on board for a while, until in a drunken stupor, they decided to leave and return to their party. I hung out with the Israeli/German duo for a while and talked about music and film. Good stuff.

The next day we grabbed breakfast, prepared lunch for the trail, and we took off. We added an extra hour to head out to Pitt Head, to take in nice views of the ocean. 40 kilometers from where we started, we made it back to a half mile from the car park. Bev was wiped out from the hike, so I got the car and brought it back.

We found a local artisan near the car park who carved his own musical instruments and recorded some kiwi tunes, so since the tunes were good and performed by local musicians on local instruments, we grabbed a CD.

We headed back to Motueka for a post-hike coffee and some dinner. After dinner, we hopped into the van to drive a few hours to our next stop, Picton, which is where we will board the Ferry to cross the Cook Strait and leave the south island en route to the north island. Our destination is Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.