Abel Tasman

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  Abel Tasman National Park, South Island, New Zealand
Monday, December 29, 2008

Abel Tasman National Park is named for the Dutch explorer who first discovered New Zealand. this national park in a word is "stunning" (and eunice's favorite of the trip so far). it is located on the northwest corner of NZ's south island. it encompasses a large mountian region plus a marine reserve filled with seals, stingrays and a variety of fish. it is also home to one of NZ's Great Walks (this also includes the likes of the Milford Track, Kepler Track, Heapy Track, Abel Tasman Coastal Track, Roteburn Track and so on). we arrived here a couple days after christmas.. NZ's busiest time of the year. we found a place to park no problem, but getting on the 2-4 day hike on the Abel Tasman was out of the question. you see, with these multiple day hikes, you have to pre-book camp sites along the trail to sleep in. No chance for us... we didn't even try.. instead, we opted for a full day kayak and hiking combo... early in the morning, we were taken to Bark by along the Abel Tasman coast by water taxi. from there, we did a 5 mile hike to Torrent Bay (apparently the most gorgeous stretch of the track) and then kayak back to the small town of Marahau. the scenery was stunning! and we couldn't have imagined a more picturesque day! the waters were clear, the sky was blue without a cloud in sight and the waters were calm, perfect for kayaking... first the trail... it wound side to side, up and down for 2 hours. but the views of the ocean and clear blue lagoons were incredible... we HIGHLY recommend this trip. then we met up with Tom, our kayak guide, who was waiting for us at the end of our hike with lunch, fresh fruit and juice! what a sight! we sat on a small cove called Watering Cove eating and chatting... then a brief briefing on kayak safety before about 3 hours on the kayaks....

one funny thing about the Abel Tasman coastline.. the difference between low tide and high tide can be as high as 5 meters! that's almost 20 feet difference in water level! we started the day at high tide and finished it on low tide... a good quater of a mile was exposed when we got back to Marahau...and at low tide, beaches suddenly show up, sand bars are exposed and small islands are now connected to the mainland! it was weird but beautiful! on our kayak trip, we saw stingrays, a few seals and couple schools of fish... it was such an unbelievably perfect day! and to finish the day off in style, we got in touch with our korean sides and went cochelling (don't really know the spelling exactly).. .now, what is this activity? and what are cochelles? back home, we call them clams! when low tide hits, clams are exposed... so eunice and i (and there were a bunch of locals there too) went digging for clams! now, we didn't hit the limit of 200 clams per person, but we did manage to feed a few others at the campsite we stayed at.. it was so good! delicous and FREE!!! it really was so much fun, that we went back the next day for more! with that, day 1 at abel tasman came to a close.

we stayed in marahau at a place called Kanuka Ridge Backpackers... we still slept in our van, but did get to use all their facilities... that's where we met a german and a kiwi family traveling together... wonderful people! we spend the night talking and even ran into them throughout day two in the Abel Tasman... we spend day two driving around Golden Bay. we went to lookouts over the valley, did some wine tasting, went to the beach, ate fish 'n chips, and went salmon fishing! "yes" i did say salmon fishing... there's this farm called Anotoki Salmon Farm... you get to fish for salmon.. they give you the fishing gear and even the bait for free... all you have to do is pay for the salmon by the kilo. they even clean and cook the fish for you... and if you want to take it home, they'll vacuum seal it for a small fee! awesome! eunice and i spend a couple hours there... i caught the first salmon and eunice quickly followed up with her own.. we excitedly took our fish to the fish kitchen and chose to get the fish done in two different ways.. the smaller of the two fish (eunice's - haha.. i had to mention that!) we had sashimi style! complete with soy sauce and wasabi! the second, we had filleted and vacuum sealed! it was delicious!!! we hadn't had sushi in SO LONG! while we were waiting for our fish to be prepared, the two families that we met at camp showed up... so we spend the next hour with them, helping the kids, taking pictures etc... it was great fun... so much fun that we ended up exchanging information and promised to visit each other in our native countries...

Abel Tasman was great! YOU MUCH GO TO ABEL TASMAN if you are ever in New Zealand!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

along the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk	blue lagoon, abel tasman	clams at low tide	clams, all done!
coastline, able tasman	cooking clams	digging for clams	dinner is caught!
eunice likes cows	eunice reeling in her fish	exposed sand bar during low tide	fresh salmon sashimi!
isn't pupu spring amazing?!	Pupu springs.. clearest springs in the world	river into the sea at Abel Tasman	Salmon farm
salmon fillets for tomorrow night	strange looking kayakers	Tata beach is busy this time of year	Tata beach, golden bay
through my polarized sunglasses	valley of golden bay	what kind of marine life is this?

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