Abel Tasman National Park

On arrival in Motueka we speedily arranged our accommodation in the Abel Tasman National Park (DOC huts, basic – they have cooking benches, hard mattresses and a heater) huts, booked ourselves on the Aqua Taxi and rented sleeping bags, liners a cooking pot and a camping stove (for aforementioned cooking bench) and we were ready to rock.

Early enough, we left Motueka for the short drive to Murahau which is a small seaside village at one end of the Abel Tasman National Park. This was to be both our starting point and our final destination. We parked Maisie up in the car park of the Aqua taxi company and set off for the start of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. This is one of New Zealand’s “Great walks” – a series of multi day hikes, or tramps as the kiwis call them, which are considered exceptionally beautiful, but which are also well maintained and quite accessible. Ideal for part time hikers like us.

Day one was going to be a long walk. We would begin with the 1km walk to the start of the track, which we would then follow for about 11km along the coast to Anchorage and then progress further to Bark Bay (about 10km further). All in all, it was going to be just about a 22km walk along the coastal track.

We were fortunate with the weather. With our longest day ahead of us, we needed some sunshine, and for once, the weather gods obeyed. Although beautiful, we saw limited coastline on the first day, for a coastal walk. We did manage to entertain ourselves along the way though.

We spent much of the time walking through winding hillside paths, hidden from the gloriously blue sky by a dense roof of rainforest foliage. It was stunning, but I have to confess, I was fairly exhausted with looking at ferns by the time we reached Bark Bay …. and fairly exhausted. We had estimated the walk would take us about 7-71/2 hours, however, being a little over eager, we arrived at our destination after just over 5 hours – and promptly fell asleep for two hours, much to the amusement of the Dutch and two German hikers who were already at the hut.

We awoke shortly before sunset with dinner on our minds – it was a culinary delight – Wattie’s (NZ’s Heinz!) Chicken Korma in a can, with chicken flavour countdown budget noodles! Rarely has anything tasted so good. Once the sun had really gone down, the temperature dropped and so the tired and chilly hikers huddled around the gas heater in the hut, the slightly effective gas heater. We were all feeling a little sorry for ourselves, when three limping Aussies hobbled through the door, soaked to the waist after a badly timed tidal crossing – all of a sudden our five hours earlier looked like a walk in the park!

Bedtime eventually arrived – I managed to stay awake until the youngest of the hut residents (7,6 and 3; with whom we were sharing a room – a 12 bed dorm) went to bed and then I hit the hay. New Zealand’s Department of Conservation has provided several huts along many of the popular walking routes around the country’s National Parks, which allow trampers (hikers to you and me) to undertake multi day walks, but still have a roof over their heads at night. There is usually a 2 night maximum stay policy in each hut. The mattresses however, ensure that most people stay only one!

After a fitful night’s sleep, I woke up shortly after 6am to hear the 3 year old telling his dad exactly why he needed to go to the bathroom! The poor father tried in vain to persuade he and his siblings that it was the middle of the night and that they needed to go back to sleep! Unfortunately, in a very short time the sight of dawn breaking out the window proved him a liar and my little friend got very excited, begging, :Daddy, please can we go and watch the sunset”. Thus followed a little nature lesson, on how the sun sets at night and rises in the morning. Not that this little encounter was not amusing or indeed educational, but I gladly rolled over for another two hours sleep when Dad caved and brought them out to watch the sun!

Our second day’s walk was to be much shorter, just short of 11km. However, with aching legs and shoulders – no longer quite as fit for carrying the backpack as they were in Nepal – it felt almost as long. The route, despite a long diversion inland, did actually afford some stunning coastal views with walks across Onetahuti Bay and Tonga Quarry Bay. After almost four hours we reached Awaroa Bay, where our hut for the night was located and began the short walk across the beach to it. As we started walking, the rain started pouring. Just as we arrived at the hut, the deluge started – perfect timing. We hauled ourselves inside, thanking our lucky stars we left when we did and prepared some badly needed lunch. The next hour was spent trying every trick in our limited scouting book, to get the wood stove burning. Eventually, it kicked off properly, just in time for the four soaking Americans who arrived in.

We all passed the night, sitting around the stove, stealing every bit of warmth we could, entertaining ourselves with an extremely complicated version of twenty questions which was introduced to us by our hut mates, eventually crawling into our sleeping bags, dreaming of better weather for tomorrow.

We were lucky, the sun was well and truly out the next morning. The first part of our journey was to complete a crossing of the Bay from Awaroa Hut. There is a large tidal difference of 4m from low to high at this location, meaning it is only possible to make the crossing about 2 hours either side of low tide. With low tide at 1.40pm, this meant a lazy morning for us. We had met several hikers along the way and heard horror stories of waist deep, ice cold water. I was dreading it, being such a fan of cold water. Fortunately, the deepest part of the the crossing was just over my knees, and ok, it was ice-cold, but it was certainly tolerable compared to what I had expected.

Once the crossing was made, it was really a hop, skip and a jump to Totaranui and our water taxi back to Murahau. It was the most coastal part of the Coastal track, taking in some gorgeous sandy beaches along the way. If you didn’t know better, you might think you had landed on a tropical island – of course, it is New Zealand in winter, so the temperature might just have given it away!!!

Possibly the highlight of the trip however, was the water taxi journey back. With plenty of time to kill, the driver stopped at Tonga Island so we could see the colony of NZ fur seals, and then at the stunning Tonga Arches – beautiful stone arches carved in the rock over millions of years. I have seen arches like this before, but mostly out of softer rocks, these were granite! As we motored on, we were also lucky enough to see a stingray and a pod of Dusky Dolphins, one of NZ’s only native sea mammals and one of the smallest dolphins in the world.

Our arrival back in Motueka was not prove disappointing either. I thought the journey could not possibly get better. I was wrong. As the boat approached the shore, we could see a long stretch of sand, interspersed with icy cold streams. After one too many chilly tidal crossings, it was a sight that made us shudder with fear! Fear not – the aqua taxi people had a solution! We motored into the shallows, to be met with a tractor and a trailer. Our boat driver simply directed us onto the trailer, while the tractor driver reversed, secured us and motored us the full 500m or so to the shore and on to the Aqua taxi office – passengers on a boat, on a trailer, being towed by a tractor!!!! Genius!