September 16th - Marahau to Torrent Bay Hut - 11.5 kms
 
The alarm went off at 6am this morning - oh what fun!!! I'd woken up quite a few times during the night feeling quite sick, hence I didn't feel 100% - not that I ever do first thing these days!!! We got up and had a shower and went downstairs to have breakfast of muesli to use up some more of our milk. We packed up our last bits - sleeping sheet etc and put them in the car along with food that we weren't taking. We shouldered our packs which seemed as heavy as usual (unfortunately) and went down the drive to wait at the gate for the bus, which was supposed to arrive at 7.30am but in fact arrived at 7.40am. By the time it arrived there was a veritable crowd of us waiting - 2 german girls, two others daytripping, a Chinese girl and us. We put our sacks in the back and got on and paid our $11 each and set off through town picking up other people on the way.

Of course, the further we drove, the murkier and greyer the sky got, and by the time we got to the Abel Tasman Park Enterprises Ltd office it was raining quite hard. We stayed on the bus going to the southern end of the coastal walk (Marahau), whereas everyone else going to other points had to transfer to another bus. It took us twenty minutes from the office to get to the car park at the end of the walk. There were about 8 people left on the bus and we all got off and rushed across to the posh new shelter with our rucksacks to don raincoats etc and sign ourselves in. Everybody rushed off and we were almost the last two to go. We set off trudging up over the headlands.

'We passed beautiful beaches and bays with golden sand. It would have been beautiful had it not been for the drizzle...'

 

We passed beautiful beaches and bays with golden sand. It would have been beautiful had it not been for the drizzle or torrential rain all the way. We kept passing a Scottish couple who couldn't believe they were doing this either. After an hour or so we headed more inland through grey misty low hills covered in low scrubby bush and weedy looking trees. Moss and lichen covered the ground everywhere. Again it would have been beautiful if we could have seen beyond our noses.
We reached a parting of the paths at about 12 and decided to go to Torrent Bay via the low tide route, over the sandy estuary. We reached the estuary and crossed it, wading through streams and getting our boots and trousers soaking - what's a little more water to a sponge already soaked??!! We walked the wrong way ending up nearly at the village and then decided a little green hut we'd seen on the way across was Torrent Bay Hut.

 

'..a little green hut we'd seen on the way across was Torrent Bay Hut.'

 

 We met a german couple on the way back making the same mistake as us and turned them back. We arrived at the hut which was cold and damp, and while the german couple made the fire, I made some sandwiches. The fire was very reluctant to go with the damp wood, but eventually got going. While we were eating a group of four more germans stopped off for lunch. Meanwhile the rain still poured outside. Rough as the hut was, with its dirty 8 bunks and grotty table it was lovely and homely compared to out there. Our clothes dripped on the line over the fire. At about 4pm, the rain eased and Andrew and I went down to the lakeside to chop more wood.
The german couple decided they were going to try to get to Bark Bay Hut, further north, before dark. Not long after they left the heavens opened again. And so we were left on our own in our lovely home for the night with, by now, a roaring fire and a warm dry atmosphere. It got dark and the rain poured down outside and we sat playing cards by the flickering orange glow of the fire and a couple of candles. I read a bit of my book. We had delicious sausage sandwiches for tea, which were heavenly after our exertions. We got into our sleeping bags and went to bed early, our wet clothes still steaming on the line and the fire sending flickering shadows like dream scenes across the walls. It had been a lovely evening.