Well, this was, I think, the highlight for me. We were blessed with 2 days of good weather.
The Abel Tasman walkway is a great walk.. and thus usually quite crowded. However, we elected to do the Northern Part (from Wainui down to Bark Bay). Red line is where we walked – blue line is the water taxi back.
It’s a stunning part of the coast. For the first day we hardly saw another person and had the beaches entirely to ourselves. Perfect.
The only problem on the Abel Tasman is timing your walk to the tides. There are two tidal crossings.. this next picture is entirely under water for half the day.
Opting not to carry two nights food (just for the second night) we ate out at the Awaroa lodge for dinner. It was expensive – but quite delicious. After all.. we were on holidays. The walk back through the cold water at night was… invigorating (ok, cold)… beautiful starry night though – there aint no light pollution up there.
So yes.. all in all it was a simply brilliant hike.. well worth getting North of Totaranui if you get the chance.. it’s more hassle to get there – but less people and beautiful beaches.
Oh – I must tell you! we had dinner in The Riverside Cafe before leaving for the Abel Tasman… it’s the best place EVER! Well, one of them anyway. I forget who reccommended it to me – but damn the food was so so SO good – and cheap. We went back for lunch after the walk – and I will make every effort I can to always go there when I am in the area. Really – it’s just the best place.
I had a hike up above Franz Josef (8 hour walk in 5… I’m loosing my touch)… Pretty useless views – but good to stretch the legs.
While I did that – Nati and Laura did a sky dive at Fox Glacier. I have heard it is the best place in NZ to do it – and they certainly loved it.
Then today we hiked in to the Welcome Flats hot pools. DOC said it was a 7 hour walk – so was expecting to do it in 5 – maybe 6… but it took the full 7. I was… shocked (still am to be honest)
It was hilarious – the first river (about 20m after starting the trip) Laura and Nati took about 20 mins to cross – desperately trying to keep their shoes dry. Once they got wet and resigned themselves to squelching for the next 6 hours things progressed much more smoothly :)
I was completely knackered when I got to the hut. I think it was the 1/2 pumpkin, 3? kumara, bottle of red and a few other things I’d insisted on carrying.. so much for chivalry – never again!
Mind you, the hot pools were worth it. We went in at 10pm after dinner – everyone else had gone to sleep so had the place to ourselves. It’s the best time to go in as the sandflies have gone to sleep (thank God). Below you can see a picture of the hot pools by day.
Finally… an example of kiwi sense of humour. I tried to call.. but there was no dial tone.
Next day – 5 hours out (far lighter) and drove up to Motueka – for our Abel Tasman adventure.
Laura and Nati headed off biking – and I took the opportunity to hike up Roys Peak. A hill overlooking lake Wanaka. I will definitely be doing this one again on a nice day.. from the top, had it not been cloudy, you could see Mt. Aspiring.
Then unfortunately it was time to press on – travelling northwards to the glaciers. The West Coast is a rugged beautiful place. Human population ~ 50,000 , Sandfly population ~ 20Billion.
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