Tramping in the rain
Trip Start
Unknown
1
10
14
Trip End
Ongoing
Abel Tasman National Park, S.I., New Zealand
Saturday, December 6, 2003
Halfway to the Park, me and my fellow travellers ( = a Dutch couple [ see, Edwin, Italians can never outnumber travelling Kaaskopen...], a NZ-French Swiss couple and an English one, I was well and truly singled out!) started experiencing the beginning of a deluge which would carry on for most of the day and would only stop early in the evening. Murphy's law never fails to oblige!
The crucial moment came after the shuttle bus dropped us at the beginning of the main tramping track, not after stopping several times en-route : our driver felt it necessary - everytime the rain gave us some respite - to get out and clean ALL the bus windows with an array of products and gadgets. We spent most of our trip entertaining ourselves by trying to find a justification to this bizarre behaviour... So, under the shelter of the track's start, trying not to look at the incoming trampers completely drenched, and fully aware of having chosen the perfect day to wear my Teva sandals and my glasses rather than my contact lenses, I donned my k-way and braved the elements...
The views unfolding during the 11.5 km walk were absolutely spectacular and worth every single damn I uttered on my way. Less so the attempt to keep my camera working properly under the rain and in the strong winds... suffice to say that by time I reached the Anchorage Hut , the shelter structure at the end of this walk, I could have really been squeezed like a wet towel ! In the hut's lounge I had my meal, kept dry thanks to Tupperware technology, and was happy to discover that my day backpack is ready to retire - everything else I had carried inside it was humid to say the least. Met a bunch of trampers whom I had crossed at different stages while walking and had a great conversation with an extremely funny guy from Nottingham and his American companion who thought I was a stylish example of an Italian woman ( and he wasn't joking - I hope he asked Santa for some vouchers from Boots the opticians'!!!).
I sailed back to the track's start with an aqua taxi and this turned out to be a perfect ending to the brief tramping adventure. The sea was so choppy the waves would crash all over the (open) boat , providing a perfect shower opportunity and making us passengers look like poor souls on our way to Dante's Inferno. Our taxi skipper (or shall I call him Caronte??!) was a happy chap who kept laughing out loud for the whole of the trip, shivering (maybe...) in a t-shirt and shorts and barefoot. It couldn't get any worse than that and I had a fit of giggles which left my companions gobsmacked, for they thought I was either very scared and crying or sick!!!
Anyway - the shuttle took us back to Nelson without a single window-maintenance stop and to the warmth of our accomodations. The cottage was filled with the aroma of the short bread, I thanked god for hot showers and warm clothes and joined the rest of the guests on the comfy sofas of the lounge for some socialising and more laughter.
