hi!

i just had lunch with an 85 year old guy staying at the hostel. he is very nice, and a non stop story machine. remarkably he is 100% there.
whent to the selebrated nelson market earlier, quite nice. i nearly got some plums but i didn’t have time. i tried one at the stall and they were very tasty.

anyways i set sail for the abel tazman park on the morn of the 11th. there was a prevailing wind and the berometre read 28.6-fair. err…that is to say i got the bus. the trip was univentfull and long. some of the senary was quite nice. the only interesting bit was a stretch of road wich whent alongside a dry river bed. in the mud were literaly thousands of massive messages and slogans picked out in stones. the bus was going too fast for me to read most them, but they were not for the benerfit of moterists, but for when an arial photo is taken. quite clever.
the bus dropped me at the start point of the trail. i didn’t set of amiediatly as the drive had gone through some windey roads and i was feeling not a little queesy. sat down had a banana and contimplated stuff. contrary to what i had thought there were very few people at the starting place. i had there idea that a hord of people would be droped of and we would form into groups or something. it turned out that i was the only person on the bus! on reflection it was better this way. dropping my banana skin casualy in a bin provided i set off, little realizing i would not see another rubbish bin for some time. the rule is that anything yopu take into the park you have to take out again. this encludes biodegradable stuff such as apple cores and banana skins. which is fair enough. the first stretch was over a kind of swamp on wooden bridges and then into hilly jungle like forrests. very cool. the trail was on the coust so every now and again you would pop out of the forrest and find yourself on a thin track above a long steep drop to the sea. and you would have a beutifull view of a perfect golden cresent moon beach, complete with crisp, crystal clear waters. i took a few pictures of these beaches but i gave up after a while as there were loads of them, each more lovley than the last. i had taken my shoes which i had strapped to my pack, and i was waering my flipflops. after a bit of examening of the ground i decided to walk barefoot. i thought it would be quite neat to see if i could walk the entire length without foot protection. i would relish skipping past other trampers in there heavy walking boots. also i had spent so long in shouse the last few months that my feet were getting soft, they needed toughening up. well onwards i went, puffing slightly at the wieght of my bag. it didn’t contain much. the stove, foodstuffs, sleeping bag, spare clothes, and bits and pieces such as my minidisk and my gameboy, both of witch i did not use! it was suprisingly hard going at first were i thought i would be striding past others i was actualy just keeping up. there was quite a number of other users coming and going. and every time you met someone i had to go through the time honored ritual of iether saying a variation of hello or nodding or grinning or all of the above. to say this got tiresome to the point of madness would be an understatment. fortunatly people seemed to apear in waves so i had plenty of time by myself. possible too much. the forrests were like a jungle and i fully expected to see david attenbourough around the next corner talking to a gibbon or something. large palm/ferns trees blotted out the sun, water tinkled down streams and over waterfalls, many a wierd bird call did i here. i was on my own for a while now and it got to the point that i suspected some of the calls were people making poor immitations of a lesser screech owl as they closed in for the kill. but it was a very plesent walk never the less. about and hour away from ankorage bay my destination i ahve to admit that i went slightly “beach” i invented this scenario in my head that i was a leader of this small group of soldiers, treking through enemy terrertory. the trekers behind me became the enemy to be avoided at all cost. the people in front allys or traitor decided on a whim. my companions were biggs wedge and jesse. they roamed around and gave me intel on the enemy or covering fire. i was in constant contact with a mysterous chap called “sarge” he gave me orders and such and i relayed my position and curcumstances. weird i think you will agree. anyway it was good fun escaping from a perticulaly tenacous pair of walkers behind me. i would scurry ahead for a bit then stop and listen. i would hear there voice disturbingly close and i would charge away gibbering franticly into my radio headset for srage to send in air support. of course talking to sarge required me to place my index and second finger to my ear and talking in a half wisper. anyone seeing me would know doubt assume that i was insane as i was walking in a half crouch, clutching my ear and muttering to myself. after a bit i reached the hut. which was fortunate as any longer and i would have been hiding in the bushes squirting people with my water bottle. the hut was allright, there was a big kitchen and two big bedrooms. the beds consisted of seven matresses in a row on the floor and another seven on a platform above. a bit hellish really. i met an american guy who seemed nice called matt. after a bit i went to the beach which was right outside the hut. it was a boiling day, and with a merry cry i ran for the enviting waters. only to recoile in horror upon touching it, it was absolutly freezing. entualy i mustered the courage to submerge. and it was very refreshing, but i couldn’t stay in for to long. i stayed on the beach for a few hours basking in the sun and watching the kyakers paddle about. around sixish i went back to the hut to make my food. more people had arived by now and the hut was bustling. people of note on the first night were a dutch girl called eva who was very freindly. a dutch guy called franz who i didn’t speak to much in the first hut. an isreali gut called niel, an english girl called kelly, an american girl called ally and a canadian couple. i didn’t really speak to them all, but we got to know each other in the days to come. i prepeared my food with little dificulty: pasta,tuna and pesto. i would like to shake the hand of the guy thoiught up putting tuna into foil pouches like the catfood. it is so simple yet very clever. i sat out side and talked to eva whilst trying to ignore the know-it-all voice of the canadian guy gabbering in the background. “what an idiot” i thought to myself. eva and i decided to travle together for the next section, and as it was getting dark we all went to bed.

this ends day one of the tazman saga. itt will continue tomorrow.