Free Travel!
Free Travel is a week in which we, the group, get to plan, organize and budget our own adventure. After much research and discussion our group decide to hike the beautiful National Park of Abel Tasman. Abel Tasman is notorious for its clear blue ocean, golden sand beaches, and lush green mountains. We planned a three day hike in which we would kayak the first half of the first day then continue on foot. Lucky for us we began our journey during a rain storm. However, we all through on our rain coats and trooped through it. After we finished kayaking and changed into some dry clothes it had stopped raining. We then began our hike through the beautiful forests. Once we reached our destination of Bark Bay we shacked up in a cozy little hut in the middle of the woods. The huts did not have electricity so we were all really ‘one with nature’. The next day we continued on our trek. It is hard to describe the beauty of being out in green forests over looking the beautiful blue water. We stopped on a beach and some afternoon chill time while Avy ran back to the hut(5 km away!) to grab the jacket she had forgotten. Continuing on our hike we had to trek not only on land but through water too! When we reached our next hut in Awaroa we all warmed up next to the fireplace. Our next day was our longest hike of 15km. This was perhaps the most beautiful day of hiking yet. We ended the day in Wharlwharangi and all felt pretty proud of ourselves. We all took great pride in successfully planning and executing our free travel.
-Andrew Betoff