New Year 2005: Abel Tasman National Park

After arriving back in Dunedin from Hamilton (minus some of our overweight luggage. Damn you Air New Zealand!!) we had a quick snooze, repacked the car with our adventurin' gear and headed up the road to spend New Years Eve with Dan in Christchurch. By late afternoon on the first day of 2005 we'd safely made it to Nelson where we decompressed for a day or so, sorting out our kit and enjoying the Marlborough sunshine.

On the morning of the third we picked up kayaks from the rental company (and we were recognised by the girl helping us get set up - she works at R&R sports in Dunedin. Not just a small town, this is a small country...) and after a bit off faffing around we headed on up the coast of Abel Tasman National Park under greying skies. Our plan was to seakayak north for three days, then have the rental company collect the boats on the third afternoon and drop off our packs, then we'd continue to walk north up the Abel Tasman track for another two or three days.

Our beautiful blue boats.

Warning: There'll be a lot more photos of Rochelle than Kieran in this post. Not only is she better looking, but Kieran had the camera on his boat.

Rochelle with an coastal arch behind

In the middle of the afternoon we came to the start of what's known as the "Mad Mile". Most of the coastline in Abel Tasman is fairly sheltered and calm, but during this section it juts out into Tasman Bay and gets a bit rougher, but on that day it was relatively smooth so we gave it a go. We pushed most of the way up the Mad Mile until we reached Te Puketea bay, where we decided to camp.

Te Puketea: Not our photo - and the weather certainly wasn't like this for us -but you get the idea. It's quite a nice place.

Kieran on the beach at Te Puketea

Rochelle paddling out the second morning.

The next morning we rounded the heads into Torrent Bay and pulled ashore to take a side trip inland to Cleopatra's Pool.

Kieran and Rochelle at Cleopatra's Pool

A nice bit of Abel Tasman bush

After a hot lunch to warm us up we got back in the boats and headed up the coast through driving rain and increasingly cold and strong winds. After an unscheduled break to get out of the wind and warm up we eventually made it into the welcoming calm of Bark Bay. Paddling amongst the moored yachts and multihulls we worked our way past the crowds on the beach at Bark Bay Hut to the more secluded campsite at Mosquito Bay.

Dodgy photo of Mosquito Bay Camp.

The Abel Tasman track has about two dozen campsites along its length, most of which are shared by trampers and sea-going campers. Mosquito Bay, on the other hand, is one of only two campsites that are accessible only by boat - so they tend to be quieter, slightly more serene affairs. When we arrived at Mosquito Bay there were three trailer sailers anchored in the lagoon behind the campsite waiting for high tide to float them out, but even so, it was a very relaxing, if somewhat rain-sodden place to stay.

Rochelle cooking dinner under the trees, Mosquito Bay

Kayak racks and our tent.

On day three we packed up early and went to seakayak out to Tonga Island, the northern most part of our seakayaking component. The sea was quite rough on the crossing to the island and with high winds we were only able to see a handful of the seals that live and breed on the island before heading back into shore. Once ashore we unpacked the boats, collected our packs and headed off to walk over the saddle to Awaroa inlet, our destination for the evening.

Rochelle starts off on the Abel Tasman track.

Unfortunately, the rain had well and truly set in by this time and it was a pair of cold, wet and muddy trampers that eventually arrived at the fairly impressive DOC hut at Awaroa. The storm really set in overnight, so we were glad the ranger let us cook in the hut before retiring to our tent for the night.

Somehow the weather cleared overnight, so we were able to dry our moistened belongings before setting off to cross Awaroa inlet on the low tide, then continue on to Totaranui.

Drying gear at Awaroa.

Kieran outside Awaroa Hut.

Crossing Awaroa inlet.

As we sauntered up towards Totaranui the weather improved dramatically, giving us a taste of what Abel Tasman is like at its best.

We stayed two nights at Totaranui, an enormous DOC campground towards the north end of the track. With great weather we were able to swim, laze in the sun and even do some sailing with some of our neighbours from Dunedin we met up there.

On the sixth day of our trip we decided to head home and caught a water taxi back to our car, parked at Marahau at the south end of the park. By mid-afternoon we were cruising across the spectacular Lewis Pass in North Cantebury, dinner in Christchurch, then back in bed in Dunedin just on midnight, having seen in the first week of 2005 in fine style.

Northern Rata, Totaranui