New Zealand - Abel Tasman
Trip Start
Dec 05, 2005
1
76
124
Trip End
Ongoing
Abel Tasman,
New Zealand
Friday, January 5, 2007
The Abel Tasman National Park lies in the northwest corner of New Zealand's South Island and is famed for its coastal coves and bush walks. There are basically three options of travel around the Abel Tasman and most people combine 2 or 3 of these options when exploring the region. The first form of travel is boat or Water Taxi, which can take you along the coast and drop you at any of the coves on the way. The second option is to hike between the coves and then catch a water taxi if you are fed up of walking. The third option is to hire a kayak for a few hours and follow a guide around the coast from the waters.
We decided to combine a boat trip along the entire length of the coast with a hike along the 'most impressive' section of the coastal walk before getting a water taxi back to the town
001 Spilt Apple Rock
. The boat passed the strange 'Split Apple Rock' (PICS) - legend has it that two Maori gods fought on the rock to gain ownership of the coast and the split happened during the fight! Seems more likely that it fell or got struck by lightning if you ask us.
Cruising around the bays we spotted some visitors taking the kayak option (PIC) and an impressive galleon docked near Torrent Bay (PIC). An area of the coast, known as Tonga Island, had a congregation of seals basking in the sunlight (PIC) - completely uninterested in our boat passing them by.
We were dropped off at Bark Bay and began our 2.5 hour hike along the coastal track back to Torrent Bay where we would be met by a water taxi in about 4 hours time. The walk was actually quite disappointing; not only was it long with steep uphill sections but it also had very little view to speak of, most of the hike being enclosed in forest. Apart from a couple of swing bridges (PIC) and a glorious view over a secluded cove (PIC) to redeem the hike, it was a bit of a waste of time and effort. We had been so bored at one point that we counted the number of times we had tripped over hazards on the track - Verdi totalled 10 trips and Andrew managed 15!
We completed the hike in just over 2 hours and sat on the jetty beach in Torrent Bay and waited for the water taxi. We were able to catch an earlier one but this then left us in the main town waiting an hour and a half for the shuttle bus back to our campsite!
Back at the campsite we tried to find accommodation for that evening and after calling around 15 or 20 different hotels we found that we were left with getting a tent site at a holiday park in Nelson
002 Spilt Apple Rock
. The entire town was fully booked due to the current school holidays. Staying in the tent for the first time we wanted to get a power cable so that we could use our laptop, lights, kettle etc. so we popped to a nearby hardware store where we were directed to the 'correct' lead. No sooner did we get back to the campsite than we found out it was completely wrong - and we had no time left to change it. Bed by sunset then!
We wasted some time the following morning returning the incorrect cable and then found a camping store that sold the right one - for $230! We opted to forgo this purchase and would just have to do the old-fashioned, camping by torchlight thing.
Nelson town has a popular weekend market that we had a look around and bought some fresh strawberries and cherries. We also spotted a shop that had a certain ring to it (PIC). And by the way...those strawberries were huge! (PIC)
