by Siobhan File

What a miserable contrast the grey drizzly sky outside my desk is to the happy images on my screen—taken only four days ago while I was wandering along the Abel Tasman coastline on my first proper Great Walk adventure… I wish I was back there…

How idyllic does this look right now!

A few weeks ago I wrote about how I wasn’t really sure what to take or expect. Thanks to all those who gave me tips and tricks—they definitely paid off!

My biggest struggle was trying to sort out the transport to and from the start of the track. What a nightmare! Lesson number one: book your flights after you’ve sorted out the ‘to and fro’. None of the services available teed up with the aqua taxi we needed to hop on to be at Nelson Airport by 4pm on Sunday. In the end we ended up booking a rental car. It was actually pretty good as we had a bit more freedom. But if you are wanting to bus back to Nelson, book that in first!

I was on a course all week in Nelson beforehand, so packing was a bit difficult. Having a car was another advantage—I could leave extra stuff in there. My boyfriend Sam flew down on Friday morning and we went to the supermarket to choose our food. Steak and potato salad for his cooking night, and chicken ravioli for mine. Remember how excited I was about the scroggin opportunities… well, it ended up being a bit of a fail. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious. You just had to eat it with a spoon. Lesson number two: Don’t use cooking chocolate. It melts.

Scroggin fail/new chocolate bar idea

Once we got to Marahau, we parked up with Abel Tasman Aqua Taxis (they have a special park for customers) and began to sort through my stuff. I’ve always known packing lightly isn’t my strong point… but Sam—you officially have in writing that you were right. I should have listened to you (in this instance). I only used a quarter of the things in my makeup bag and hardly any of the clothing I’d packed. Lesson number three: only pack what you really really need. I packed a different outfit for each day, but ended up re-wearing a few items that weren’t as dirty as expected.

Ready to set off on our big adventure

Once everything was sorted, packed, confirmed and comfortable, we set out on our big adventure into Abel Tasman National Park. To make sure you get the alert for that story, follow the Great Walks Facebook page.

A snapshot of the evening we were headed towards