Abel Tasman

After leaving Nelson we spent a couple of days in Motueka taking in the sights, eating at Up The Garden Path and packing for our upcoming hike. To be honest there is not much to see in Motueka, but it is a good place to relax and enjoy good food. Up The Garden Path is a small café owned by friends of friends who serve delicious food made from local ingredients. If you happen to being going through Motueka, it is worth a stop and make sure you try their dessert.

The Abel Tasman Coast Track is one of New Zealand’s great walks and is located on an eastern facing coast in the northwest corner of the South Island. After the rest and relaxation in Motueka our first day on the trail was a little bit of a shock to our systems. That was mainly because we opted Dylan forced us to do our longest day on the first day when our packs were at their heaviest. We parked our car near the water taxi office (more on why we needed a water taxi later) and hiked the 1.5km from there to the official start of the trail.

On our first day we hiked from Marahau to the Bark Bay Hut. We had decided to stay in a hut on our first night because we knew that we were going to be a little tired after hiking 23 kilometers (14 miles). We were disappointed to find that the hut was well away from the beach and the campsites were right on the beach. The afternoon was spent on the beach watching waves crash on the golden sand and digging up shellfish. By dinner we had quite a collection, but were not sure what the harvest rules were inside a national park so we left them all on the beach and headed back to the hut to cook up what we had packed. When a hut warden showed up we asked him about the shellfish rules and were disappointed to learn that we could have had a much tastier dinner.

We made the trip from Bark Bay to Awaroa on our second day of tramping. It was a short hike with a small crossing that is done most easily at low tide. The Awaroa hut has incredible views of the estuary, but we had booked a tent site that did not have a view. After setting up our tent we sat in front of the hut watching the tide go out. The tidal zone in front of the Awaroa hut is over 2 kilometers long so the scenery changes significantly from high to low tide. When we got to the hut we asked the DOC worker there about collecting shellfish and were told that it was fine so at low tide we walked out into the estuary and collected cockles to have with dinner. They certainly did not compare to Bluff Oysters, but they were good with marinara sauce and pasta.

Our third day of hiking started at 8:00am so that we could make it across the tidal zone near low tide. After the crossing, we put our shoes back on and walked with a few Germans to Totaranui. Totaranui is a large campground in the park that is accessible by both road and sea. Most people stop here and get picked up by a bus or water taxi to return to Nelson or Marahau. After a brief stop in Totaranui we continued north. The track went across a couple of absolutely stunning beaches on the way to separation point. Our lunch on the point was shared with a bunch of frolicking seals before we finished the day by hiking to Whariwharangi hut. The hut is a converted homestead that was built in 1897. It was an incredible spot only a couple of hundred meters from the beach, but protected from the wind by bush.

There was no tidal crossing to worry about in the morning and the rain was pouring down so we took our time getting going. We hiked back to Totaranui over the Gibbs Hill track. There are some incredible views from the trail on a nice day, but we saw mostly white. We could have continued on the inland track all the way back to Marahau, but instead opted to get on a water taxi in Totaranui for the quick ride back. On the boat trip we met a couple from Hawaii who told us about their experience kayaking along the coast. After hearing about it we are thinking about returning for a couple of days of kayaking when the weather improves.

Today we are headed south to a Hereford farm near Fox Glacier.

Things we wish that we would have known before we did the hike:

We used Marahau Water Taxi, but Abel Tasman Aqua Taxi costs 2 dollars more per person and saves you almost a kilometer of walking before the trail.

Do not skip the Anchorage Bay area. It is supposed to be one of the most beautiful parts of the park with Te Pukatea Bay ranked as one of the top beaches in the world. We were in a hurry on our long first day and passed it by.

If you are staying at Bark Bay the campground has a much better location than the huts.

If you are staying at Awaroa the hut has a much better location than the campground.

You can arrange to kayak the first day of the trip and then hike the rest if you want which would give you a good feel for both the land and sea.

When the park was formed people who had property within the park were not forced to sell it so you walk through two almost residential areas along the hike and pass a huge lodge with an airstrip. Those parts are not very park like so try to ignore them.

The track is accessible by sea from a lot of different beaches so people come out and do day hikes all over the trail. Beware the hordes of day hikers that start in late morning.