Abel Tasman- Day 1

Day 18- February 23rd

After packing up, we left on the trail at noon. It took us four and a half hours to get there, and we were very tired. After the hike, we weren’t feeling like we had packed very light, but it was hard to think what we could have left out. In my pack, I had a ~3 sleeping bag, a 3 pound stove and cook pot set, a lightweight sleeping pad two jackets and a bag of clothes, a sunhat, some snacks, the instant drinks, our bottle of denatured alcohol for our stove (one litre), and a pair of Tevas for wading across some of the bays. If I could have I would have brought less clothes, but my mom made me bring two shirts, an extra pair of pants, and four pairs of underwear.

At around 5 we got to our campground at Watering Cove. To stay at any campground you had to have a reservation. My mom had booked our campgrounds back in December. None of the campgrounds had caretakers (besides Totaranui, which was connected to a road), so this was how you paid. A few rangers would patrol random campgrounds, and if you were found without a reservation you would be fined heavily.

There was only one or couple at our beach, and it was very quiet and peaceful. We played in the water and the stream for a while, then set up our tents. I had a small backpacker’s tent and my parents and sister had a bigger three-person tent. They had been planning to bring a 2 pound tent, but decided on their bigger, 7 pound tent, which was better if it rained. We had a small dinner of cheese and dry salami and went to bed.