My second and last tramp ever

Coastal track. No mountains. Day two was only three hours of walking. Beach huts. Sounds alright to me.

And then its day two and you're still fermenting in your own juices and you're, well I'm, once again questioning my own sanity. Why am I walking barefoot across a stoney estuary when its pissing down rain? Oh, right this is fun.

Actually, I don't mean to mislead you all. The Abel Tasman track was actually a lot of fun. It only rained one day, and although I seriously doubted it at the time, I totally did survive. We even boiled water for pasta on a rock over a fire. Very outdoorsy and rugged, if you can imagine. Here's a picture if you can't:

Pretty much how the track went was climb a hill, come out on the beach times 50 or something. I was alright with this. Because the closest body of water to me glows in the dark, I was pumped about being by the ocean. This is a feeling that hasn't left me. I love the ocean. So here I am standing in the ocean on the first beach:

Yes, the water was cold, but it felt so good on my feet. At first because I was tired of walking, and then later because it soothed the itching of my sandfly bites. 

Another aqueous part of the tramp was estuary crossings. I also liked crossing estuaries even though they were often rocky or had really coarse sand so after about like 5 steps my delicate feet began to hurt. Here I am crossing an estuary. I had to stop because my feet hurt.

Something to note is that unlike the Humpridge Track, Abel Tasman was not a circuit. Which means, of course, that we took an aquataxi back. And of course, we stopped to see seals. You already know how I feel about seals. 

(The only time in my entire life when I have found the color teal to actually be beautiful.)

Funny story: when we got back to the start of the track, we were in really shallow water. Then the driver pulled up the engine and told us it was important that we stay seated, especially on the road, which of course made no sense to any of us. How and why would the boat be on the road. And then we were moving through the water. 

So one of us (us=Americans) asks if the boat was a duck boat, to which Hannah (Kiwi Host) responds "No, we're being pulled by a tractor [duh]." (I put the duh in brackets because Hannah didn't say. I just wanted to make sure you got the right tone).

I mean, only in New Zealand would you have ocean tractors. 

With that being said, here are some of my favorite pictures from the tramp:

(Bluest sky and water I've ever seen. Amazing.) 

(group shot)

(me and Hannah, Kirsten's Kiwi host)

Here's a great shot from above. Kirsten and I totally climbed an extra mountain accidentally on the third day, but then I got these almost aerial shots. I hesitate to say it was worth it (I mean, its not like the rest of the track was butt ugly), but Kirsten and I made the most of it.

Oh, and by "making the most of it," I clearly mean complaining frequently and loudly. And then making Humpridge jokes. Kirsten got a great shot of how I felt: