The Abel Tasman....and The Not So Able Jak and Joe!

It was an early start, I just want to stay in bed but there was much to do. We had to finish getting ready and go down to get the bus before we started our trek. Our planned route was up the inland track for about 2-3 days and then to join the coastal track around Awaroa for our way back down the coast, which would take about 2 and a half days.
I did have a better map but it didn't work for some reason, I believe Jak has one (here) but for the mean time this will have to do. Day one proved to be pretty hard going, from our start at Marahau we had an easy half hour walk before we hit the inland track. It took a lot to get use to the weight of the bag and when we hit the steep climbs of the inland track it didn't really help. It was slow going and we didn't get a good rythm going because we had to stop so often just to take the weight off. My back and legs where killing me just a few hours in, the weight of the bag was really uncomfortable and started to cause me a bit of pain but we had to keep going until the much needed stop for lunch.Because we hadn't actually started to walk until about half ten we were in trouble of running out of day light if we weren't careful, this wasn't a good thing, the ruff grounds covered in leaves made it hard to see the roots and branches that always seemed to be trying to trip you up. Not only is it harder to keep your balance with such a big bag on your back but it also means that if your not careful, that bag will drag you down the mountain. Time was really getting on and come 5 ish with the tree cover we were forced to get our head torches out and continue in the dark. This was really not proving to be much fun, it wasn't really safe but it was our only option, it is not as if we could pitch short on the narrow tree lined track. About an hour and a half later we finally made it to camp, all be it in the dark. We had a delightful dinner of pasta with sauce.....nothing else, just sauce. Still there was lots of it and it was hot which is the main thing! We put the tent up and went to bed as soon as we could!

Well we didn't get off to as good a start as I would have liked but that is all part of it.

Much love

Joe x x x x x x x x

Quote - "My feet are my only carridge, so I have got to push on through....."
Little Clue, these are lryrics from an awesome song!

Caption Comp -

Naaaaa Whats up Doc!