New Zealand - South Island Nov '09

Abel Tasman National Park

The ferry crossing over to Picton passed by fairly quickly and the views coming into Picton through the sounds was great. We made our way to Marahau which is where we were booked in to stay for three nights. The village is the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park. There is very little to it, it's the ideal place to stay if you want to be on the parks doorstep. We stayed in a place called The Barn which was a backpackers plus they had small wooden cabins so we splashed out (NZ$60) and got ourselves one! They are backed by gigantic mountains covered in rainforest and mist and through the trees in front of us we could see the ocean. The communal area inside was super cosy with a fire burning and it was possibly of the cosiest places we've stayed.

On our first full day we headed down to the water taxi base and were loaded up on the speedboat/ water taxi and towed down the road to the beach by a tractor. As we sped along the coastline the skipper informed us that Abel Tasman has the greatest tidal range in NZ, it stretches out as far as 400m on the beach in Marahau and the depth is between 4-8 metres! So you want to make sure you know you're tide times in the park when hiking!

Abel Tasman himself arrived here in 1642 but he in fact never came ashore. He instead anchored offshore and the Maori people of the area sent a boat out to meet him. To cut a long story short his intentions were lost in translation and whilst he blew his trumpet to welcome them and sent a boat of men to meet them, this was interpreted by the Maori tribe as a declaration of war and they murdered everyone on his small convoy bar one dude who somehow made it back to Abel who was probably swilling gin somewhere aboard only to be told 'we need to get the feck out of here!' And so they did. Off to Austrlaia he went, but that's another story.

Why you may ask have they named a national park in his honour. Well some lady whose name escapes me wanted to establish the area as national park back in the 1942. She contacted the NZ government regarding it only to be told they were far too busy with WW 2 issues. So she contacted the Dutch government and told them her wishes, and also that it was the 300th anniversary of Abel's initial arrival and they were only too happy to get involved. In fact the Queen of Holland came out and officially opened the park. The park itself is therefore relatively young, and for that reson the trees aren't massive as it's only in it's second generation of regrowth apparently. Before it was national park much of it was burnt or chopped down by the people of the area.

On the way along the coastline our water taxi stopped in various bays to drop off people, and also sped past Adele island en route. Adele was the wife of Captain Dervail (a Frenchman, who actually managed to come ashore here). The island directly across from what is now called Watering Cove (where Dervail gained fresh drinking water) has two distinct humps, he was clearing missing his wife when he thought of that one!

Abel Tasman looks a bit like Jurassic Park when you see it from the water. The trees and ferns grow right up to the waters edge. We didn't have any very sunny days there unfortunately, but even on the cloudy ones you could see the beautiful blue/ turquoise colour of the water. I'd love to go back in the summer and make more use of those stunning beaches.

We got up close to Tonga Island and saw a few seals chilling out on the rocks which was pretty cool. James and I jumoped off in Tonga Bay and hiked 13km back to Anchorage Bay. It was a lovely hike challenging in sections but for the most part easy. Whilst walking through the park is great and occasionally you traipse acorss a beach or past a lookout point, we were to learn the following day seeing the park is much better on water.

We rented kayaks the following day and had our own personal guide to bring us out and along the coast. It is sea kayaking which we've never done before and luck was on our side that day. When we arrived at the beach the sea looked like one giant lake. The paddles sliced easily through the water as we headed out. James and I were in a double kayak too which halves the work. Our guide was an Aussie who been livig in NZ for years, and besides sea-kayaking he was also quite proficient in mountaineering and advanced snow-boarding. Yes he was one of those types that follows the seaons for his work. Pretty sweet existence eh.

It felt like we had the water to oursleves that morning, it's still pre-peak season which is why it was just the three of us. Plus we headed out earlier than the other tour groups. It felt like we had the water to oursleves that morning. Plus we headed out earlier than the other tour groups. We were kaykaing about 10km from Marahau beach to Watering Cove. We also went out to Adele Island and got up close and personal with the seals. That was amaaazing! The papabears are beasts weighing up to 160kgs, whilst the mamas are 40-60kgs. One curious mama came out to have a look, she swam around our kayaks and under them. It was incredible being that close to them. They are called New Zealand fur seals but in fact are actually sea lions. The difference is that sea lions have external ears, and they have a nail on their flippers, their flippers are used like limbs to get about the rocks, they don't wiggle and squirm like seals do. Fascinating stuff. They can dive down to 200m metres too!

We saw lots of wildlife that morning, including cormorants/ shags and variable oyster catchers! Now those birds are funny. They mate for life and when their partner dies they become a widow/er. They live in the same place all their lives, and so are very territorial. If you walk along their end of the beach they will run alongside you. We paddled close to the shore peering in and out of crevasses and caves in the karst rock. We saw a billy goat at one point perched on the rock face shaking his hairy chin at us.

We came ashore at Watering Cove after three hours of bobbing and paddling about. It is far better to see the park like that. It's all about the coastline of the park, the beautiful colours of the water, the lovely yellow beaches, and the rocky outcrops of limestone, granite and karst. However from there we had to hike back to base. It was about a 12km hike so we were pretty pooped when we finally got back to the Barn.

The Barn had the perfect solution to soothe away the days work - outdoor baths. Now these are not the fancy type, they are merely stand alone bath tubs that are cordoned off to some extent. So we filled them up with hot water and sat across from each other drinking wine and periodically topping up on hot water. Bliss!

Abel Tasman has been the highlight so far since getting to NZ, fantastic spot.