New Zealand - Nov 23, 2008 - Logan

Logan Mitchell
Date: 11-23-2008
Location: Medlands Beach, Abel Tasman National Park
Time: ~9pm
Latitude: 40°55'15.58"S
Longitude: 173° 3'16.92"E
Elevation: 2 m
Precipitation: light to heavy rain throughout the day
Animals: Birds including the New Zealand Bellbird and all black oystercatcher, sand flies

Breakfast: Muesli w/ dried fruit.
Lunch: Bagels w/ lettuce, cucumber, cheese, tuna.
Supper: Cuscus with Lamb and beef sauce from pouches.

Photo notes:


Spruce and Natalie in front of Cleopatra's pool
Spruce sliding down the waterslide into Cleopatra?s pool
Ken and Natalie on a suspension bridge over Falls River.

Hiked another ~11km today. Saw a neat pair of black oystercatcher birds that were feeding on critters in the sand. It rained most of the day and just about everything is totally soaked except for my sleeping bag, a spare shirt, and a pair of socks. We stopped briefly by Cleopatra's Pool which is a neat area of large granite boulders that have made natural pools. Despite the cold rain and no possibility of drying off, Spruce jumped in the even colder river and slid down the natural waterslide! The water was very brown from all of the tannins that were leeching out of the forest and into the river. One pleasant thing along the trail today was all of the beautiful bird calls from the New Zealand bellbirds. I only got a few fleeting glimpses of the bellbird, but I was able to record a video that has their calls on it. When we were setting up camp in the evening the weather cleared for a little bit, but the sand flies came out in force and were biting any exposed skin. The sand flies have been present all along the trail, but tonight they were especially bad. Because of the sand flies and rain we stopped in a hut again for a couple of hours to dry off & cook dinner.