The Abel Tasman; A Journey to Remember

They say when one makes one's dreams come true one must set their sights on new dreams and then work to make them a reality. And that my dear friends is what I have done. Way back in 2012, I set my sights on hiking 100 miles across the Irish countryside. A dream I eventually turned into a reality. Two years later it was hiking Scotland which I turned my visions toward. Again, I worked and scrapped and saved all my money until one day I found myself crossing the Scottish highlands on foot. A moving experience, traversing the heart of my ancestral home. As soon as that was remedied, I once again focused my efforts, this time on a long-distance hike in New Zealand. It took me almost two years to raise the money, gather up my often ragged determination, and embark upon an adventure that would not just take me alone into the temperate rain forest of New Zealand, but beyond, across the landscapes of the earth and into the unknown. The world...was waiting.

I did not know it at the beginning but the Abel Tasman Trail, 60 kilometers through the forests of New Zealand, would be just the beginning of something amazing, of something wonderful, of something that is currently changing me and my life forever. My journey around the world began with a simple idea and then blossomed and grew. It then turned into the here and now with those first simple steps into the unknown. And for me, at that moment, truth and life came spilling forth from the Abel Tasman. I was told and had read, that this was a coastal track. That it followed the coast along the beaches never

getting more than 150 meters above sea level. What I wasn't aware of was how often the trail would undulate, how slick the track would be after the rain, and how it would challenge me to, as so often on my many journeys, screw up my courage, strap on my big girl panties, put my head down and just...go. As in the past on my long-distance hikes, I certainly found myself wondering what I was thinking trying to do this shit at my age and physical stature. 

 No matter what anyone said, this was a pretty tough trail. Once the rain had set in, it became a lesson in caution almost every step of the way. Basically, the whole trip was me lugging myself

  and my pack up, and then down, mile after mile of slick muddy trails only to have the forest suddenly open to the most amazing sights I had ever experienced. From high atop the forest's path one could see tranquil, green waters reaching out into the world beyond. There were waterfalls and rivers, water oozing from the earth itself. There were moonrises on empty beaches, where my tent and I would lie awake awash with gentle moonbeams and glittering starlight. 

There were sunrises for the weary of heart that made one forget all else. Forget the sore legs and shoulders, forget any missteps of the previous day, forget about what lay ahead, forget about all else, and live only for that solitary moment when one holds one's breath and waits for the sun to broach the horizon. And in that moment, all else fails you. Life was in that next breath, in that next step, in that next dream of adventure. That was what the Abel Tasman gave to me; as freely as the sun gives me warmth and the universe gives my endless dreams a place to thrive. The Abel Tasman gave me that moon, that sunrise, that journey, those steps. And I am forever grateful.