A little incident marred the quiet of the morning. Anna had
forgotten her jacket the previous night at the kitchen of the campground, so
she was happy to see it the following morning as we prepared for showers and
breakfast (she is paranoid someone is going to steal her things, and I keep
telling her that no one wants our used stuff). To our surprise, by the time we
had finished breakfast someone had actually taken her jacket! She figured maybe
someone had taken it to the front desk, as a lost and found item. No, it was
not there, but the guy in charge said he would look through the security tapes
(I didn’t know Big Brother was watching us in the kitchen). Lo and behold,
there it was: a woman with four children had lifted the jacket, checked it out,
and then simply taken it with her. Anna was furious, but the guy told her to
wait and went to get the jacket himself. The lady claimed she had taken it by
mistake, but according to the tape she took a careful look at it before
pocketing it. The graffiti in our van put it succinctly: “Thou shall not steal.
God is watching, you thieving bastard”.
Today was a travel day. We were driving about 300 km from
the west coast to the north coast. The west coast is spectacular, with tall
mountains coming to the edge of the water and jagged coastal cliffs. The west
coast is bathed by the waters of the Sea
of Tasman , named after the Dutch
explorer Abel Tasman, who in the early 1600’s became the first European to set
eyes in Tasmania
and the South Island of New Zealand. In practical terms, however, the Sea of
Tasman is part of the Circum-Antarctic Ocean, famous for its rough seas due to
the Roaring 40’s (the westerly winds that are practically unimpeded by a major
landmass at 40 to 50 degrees south latitude), so it is no big surprise that
coastal erosion is such an active geologic process here.
As the highway turned inland, however, we crossed as pretty
a country as any you could imagine. Broad fluvial valleys support large pasture
fields, dotted with sheep, cows, and deer (yes, here deer are raised as a meat
animal in herds of 30 to 50 individuals). The hills are not as rugged and are
covered by a mix of pines and deciduous trees, only generally similar to the
ones we are used back home. New
Zealand is a paradise to botanists, who get
to identify a new species every few steps. The last 60 km we followed the
valley of the Motukea
River Abel Tasman
National Park
We arrived at low tide, and I was surprised to see a large
number of boats resting on the muddy floor of a large, dry bay. A few children
were playing in the mud, sinking in it down to their knees. I could also see a
good number of people looking for mussels and clams. By the time we had found a
camping place the tide had turned, and in an astonishing 10 minutes the muddy
bay became a shallow harbor, and the clam diggers were replaced by tourists in
bathing suits (including one A. Kobberger).
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