Great Walk 1: Abel Tasman

4 sunny days in Abel Tasman National Park in May 2011

I had itchy feet and decided to do the Abel Tasman as my first multi day trip in New Zealand. It was mid May and the forecast looked splendid, just sunshine for 5 days. Perfect conditions to get out, the days were short too and I rather wanted to have an easy stroll to enjoy all the views, besides, some Great Walks are cheaper and also less crowded in the off season.
All picture are here. A map of the area can be found here.

I hitched to Marahau and bought my Great Walk tickets. It was 15 NZD for a tent spot / day; unfortunately no discounts in the off season, bummer. I spent one night at a rustic hostel and got a ride by the local water taxi company to Totaranui the next morning.

beach at Marahau

It took us about 40 minutes to get there and we were able to see a lot: strange rocks, seals and some dolphins. The ride was quite inexpensive, just 45 NZD. Our guide was happy to show us around and tell us something about the area. Some walkers with heavy packs got off at Awaroa and we continued to Totaranui for another few minutes.

split rock

drinking kiwi: the rock in the middle

dropped of at Totaranui

I refilled my water bottles and took the Inland trail. It was quite warm for May and I had to gain about 400 meters. The views were fantastic once I got out of the forest and dense bush. It was really windy up there and I kept heading to Separation Point.

Golden Bay

Separation Point

I arrived at my first campsite Mutton Cove at 5pm and set up my camp and enjoyed the last bit of sunshine. No one else was here. I just left my tent for 10 minutes and when I got back I found a possum eating some of my food. That little bugger even decided to chew through my bag of couscous, instead of taking advantage of my opened bag of chips right next to it. They are some fuzzy eaters. It ran away and I expected to not see it again. But possums are persistence and it kept coming back at night to find my food and getting on my nerves. I chased it away a few times and hit it with a stick, but it didn't get the message. I didn't have a knife with me. Note that possums are one of the worst pests in New Zealand, they are responsible of killing thousand of native birds and destroying plants every year. When they are not pissing of hikers of course. After a while a second ugly possum showed up. And there are approx. 30 million of them in the country.  They have a saying here in NZ: only a dead possum is a good possum. In the end I just moved my tent 20 meters to the left and had a good night sleep.

first campsite

bright moon

The next morning was beautiful and 3 young seals were playing on the beach while I was having my breakfast. Perfect way to start a day.

seals playing while I had my breakfast

The weather stayed great for the next days and I was able to experience Abel Tasman in full sunshine. Parts of the trail were in the forest and it sometimes dropped down to the golden beaches.

One estuary on the way to Awaroa had to be crossed. It was low tide and I was able to use to much shorter and nicer low tide route. Basically most of the sand in the next picture is flooded at high tide.

crossing the estuary

I set up my tent and had a quick chat with the ranger. The night was cold and humid. It was high tide the next morning and I took my time to get to Onetahuti Beach, which is only passable on low tide. I passed by Tonga Quarry and moved on to my next site for the night: Bark Bay.

looking back to Awaroa Bay

The trail dropped down to the beach after I went up through the bush and forest. My tent was pitched under trees and I joined 2 girls from the UK and Canada for dinner at our camp fire. The night sky was amazing and it got really cold that night.

sunrise

We hiked together for a while the next day, mostly in the forest and we also checked out Cleopatra's Pool.

Cleopatra's Pool

The girls had to catch their bus in a few hours and rushed to Marahau. I took my time and enjoyed the area. 

I stayed at Stilwell Bay for a while and washed my feet in the ocean. Some sand in my shoes caused me some blisters on my last kilometres. I couldn't be bothered cleaning my socks and shoes and had to pay the price for it. It took my just another hour to get back to Marahau where I spent another night in the hostel. Some British backpackers taught me a new card game and I hitch hiked to Golden Bay the next morning. It took some time before I got a lift out of Marahau. And it actually turned out that the guy who drove the water taxi a few days ago just happened to give me a lift out of beautiful Abel Tasman. Small world...