Murderers' Bay / Blood Moon

Abel Tasman was a 17th century Dutch explorer in the employ of the Dutch East India Company. He was the first European to sight New Zealand on a voyage to investigate trading routes around Terra Australis. On the same trip, he discovered Tasmania - named by him "Van Diemen's Land" in deference to his employer, but posthumously renamed to honour the pioneer himself. Sailing east, Tasman sighted land at the northern end of the South Island, but was attacked and repelled by Maori in waka (canoes). He named the bay he saw "Murderers' Bay", which was subsequently renamed to the much more tourist-friendly Golden Bay.

The national park to which Tasman also gives his name is bordered to the north by Golden Bay and to the east by - you guessed it - Tasman Bay. The park is reached by none other than Abel Tasman Drive. I think the people here are a little proud of the Dutchman.

There is a 52km coastal track through Abel Tasman park, which people normally complete over three or four days as a one-way trip. As we do not have several days to spend here, we planned to do a section of the "Great Walk" from Totaranui to Whariwharangi as a loop. There seems to be a confusing proliferation of terms surrounding the act of 'walking' - wandering, rambling, trekking, hiking, and tramping - each implying a different level of skill, terrain or equipment required. In New Zealand, there is a preference for 'tramping', which always puts me in mind of pretending to be an itinerant homeless person.

Sunrise at Totaranui

We aimed to set off after first light, but the sun was as lazy as us and we actually didn't get moving until close to 9am. It was a slightly chilly but clear morning, and when the sun had risen, we warmed ourselves at Anapai Bay, eating our energy-packed breakfast (hardboiled egg, peanut butter sandwich, banana) on the sand.

Anapai Bay

The track continued north, hugging the coastline, past Mutton Cove, which was unfortunately characterised by the smell of an enormous rotting seal carcass on the beach.

Deviating from the track, we ventured up the headland to Separation Point, which is the point at which Tasman Bay and Golden Bay meet. At this point, the cliff slopes away abruptly, leaving me to clamber down to the lighthouse and a cluster of fake gannets, complete with canned bird calls, installed to attract the real thing to nest in the area. This odd sight is courtesy of Project Janszoon (Abel Tasman's middle name).

Lighthouse at Separation Point

From this point, we walked along the coast of Golden Bay, as far as Whariwharangi, where we paused for lunch.

Weka

Surrounded by inquisitive and unintentionally comic weka, we fuelled up for the way back on an odd combination of rice crackers, Camembert, and an 'apple cucumber' that we picked up from someone's "free, take one" box in Nelson. It had the texture of a cucumber but tasted like a slightly sour unripe melon. Not a fan.

Lunch, of sorts

Our asymetric route home took us inland and up a steep path over Gibbs Hill, which is apparently used as a mountain biking track. I can imagine that the descent is exhilarating, but I'm not sure  whether I could face the climb.

It's a long way down

The weather turned after lunchtime as a gale blew in a few scattered showers. This made the exposed climb up Gibbs Hill quite interesting, but by the time we reached 'basecamp', the gale had blown itself out to reveal a blue sky.  We invigorated ourselves with a cold shower and settled down to some dinner.

Carbs

Cooking out of the back of the van, K prepared a creamy 'buttercup' squash, tofu sausage, and broccoli pasta. The moon was full this evening, but more excitingly a lunar eclipse occurred, first darkening the bright face of the moon, then turning it a dusky shade of red, known as a 'blood moon'. Fittingly, we toasted this natural phenomenon with a glass of Moon Dog's Black Lung (III) - a smokey stout aged in rum barrels.