Hiking the Abel Tasman National Park

Carolyn and I loved the kayaking portion of the Abel Tasman, and while we would have been happy to just hop on a water taxi back to town, we decided to explore the trail back on foot. We started Day 3 at Onetahuti where we dropped off our kayaks the night before. The hiking trail actually goes further north past Onetahuti (the entire thing is 52 km), but spending six or seven days in the wilderness seemed a little out of our league. We’re a bit lazy if you hadn’t noticed, and generally unprepared, so we skipped the most northern portion of the park and headed south. The trail hugs the same golden sand beaches and granite rock formations we had seen from the kayak, but it was fun to see it all from a different perspective. Right off the bat we plunged into rich forest environs filled with birdsong (thanks again to the Birdsong Trust). I whistled my face off to the fantails that filled the tree branches, and within a few minutes we had a pretty good crowd of birds hopping from tree to tree along with us. They are incredibly social birds, and will dance for anyone that seems interested. They also like to swoop right in front of your face. It's a jolting experience. A lot of the trail is nestled in the trees with frequent scenic lookouts, keeping you fairly cool as you wind your way up and down gradual (and some not so gradual) ascents of the granite cliffs. We took the occasional break for photo-ops and snacks, but for the most part the hike is extremely do-able. I wore hiking boots, but Care did the whole thing in Chacos. A unique feature of this particular Great Walk is the existence of four tidal crossings at Bark Bay, Torrent Bay, Onetahuti Bay, and Awaroa. The tide depth in the park can fluctuate by as much as 5.2 meters, meaning that at high tide, some of the trails are submerged. Low tide and high tide are generally 6 hours apart, so most of the crossings are only passable during a 4-hour window, 2 hours before and after low tide. Get a tidal chart from the Nelson or Motueka i-site and do some planning ahead of time, or else you’ll have to: Take the high tide trail (which can add several kms/hours to your trek) Swim. Not recommended. Wake up at 5 am because you have 6 hours of hiking ahead of you and the next low tide isn’t until 5 pm. Of course Care and I didn’t time our tidal crossings well, forcing us to take Option A at Bark Bay, and Option C at Torrent Bay. Don’t stress about the Onetahuti crossing – there’s just slightly less beach to walk on at high tide. In contrast, the Awaroa crossing further north is long. Don’t muck around with it. Time it right, or you’re going for Option B. As disgruntled as we were about our early start at Torrent Bay on Day 4, the stillness of the morning was pristine. The best part is when the track emerges from the tree line to expose amazing views of the park’s bays and islands. One of the most stunning views is from the peak atop Anchorage Bay, looking north at dawn. New Zealand is called “Aotearoa” in Maori which literally means “land of the long white cloud”, and Care and I have been lucky to see an almost non-stop parade of epic cloudy sunsets. The sun lights row upon row of clouds on fire each evening…probably every morning too but we catch wayyyy fewer of those. It’s always amazing, but the Abel Tasman was exceptional. We bought a tent just for this trip, and in retrospect, I wish we had bought a small cooker (cookers are not provided in the Abel Tasman DOC huts or campsites). Cereal, PB&J sandwiches, and cold pasta held us over for four days, but the first thing we did after the hike was inhale five pizzas at 623 Bar’s all-you-can-eat pizza night. Ignoring a few sandfly issues (don’t forget your DEET!), it’s easy to see why the Abel Tasman National Park is the most visited park in New Zealand. Whether it’s by land or sea, everyone can easily and affordably enjoy the pristine beauty of the natural surroundings. We definitely recommend the kayak/hike combo. It’s a sweet taste of both worlds.
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Kayaking the Abel Tasman National Park

After three brutal days picking apples, Care and I decided it was time for a well earned vacation, so we headed north to Marahau, the gateway to New Zealand’s most popular national park – Abel Tasman. Trips in the Tasman usually vary between one and seven days, though most people spend just one or two days hiking, kayaking, or just cruising on a water taxi. We opted for a four-day combo adventure – kayaking north and then hiking back south. FYI, campsites have to be booked ahead of time, and reservations for heaps of different kayak companies can be made for free at the Nelson or Motueka i-sites. We chose Kahu Kayaks because they were the cheapest, and they turned out to be a really awesome, friendly company too. A bunch of factors such as wind direction, weather, water taxi schedules, and most importantly the high tide charts should play a part when planning your itinerary. We had to decide which was the better option – kayaking north against the wind and then hiking back south, or taking a water taxi up and kayaking south. So after thinking about it for like five minutes, we chose to kayak first…cuz we felt like it. We ran into a few bits of chop and wind, but all in all the two days kayaking were amazing. We explored Fisherman’s and Adele Islands – homes to seals and penguins – and had lunch on a secluded golden sand beach that can only be reached from the water. We shot some “rapids” (which just means we got a little too close to the rocks) and splashed around for a while. Our first night’s stay in Anchorage Bay was a bit sandfly-infested, but the great facilities made it a worthy stop. Our second day in the kayak was a lot more steady (Carolyn steered). I heard a rumor that she’s used to spending time in a boat, but I can’t remember where… We lucked out with a little blue penguin sighting early in the morning – apparently they’re really shy and spend most of their time way out in the ocean fishing, so we were really excited to see one float past us in the bay. In the afternoon after a solid paddle north, we passed “Foul Point” where we tried not to capsize so we could investigate a lesser known seal colony at the northern edge of the Park. Our efforts were rewarded when a few of the males danced in the water for us and played hide and seek under our kayak. We also spotted some 4-month old baby seals on the rocks, but Care was disappointed that she couldn't convince them to jump into the kayak and ride home with us. Day two ended with another secluded beach picnic and a mellow paddle into Onetahuti Bay Camp. There Kahu Kayaks picked up our kayaks and garbage and dropped off our backpacks, all at no extra charge, letting us prepare for our two day hike back to the start of the trail. But more on that adventure next time…

"Seal Sighting" - a comic by Shawn Forno

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Destination Guide: Anchorage Bay, Abel Tasman Park, NZ by Shawn Forno The Abel Tasman National Park – New Zealand’s smallest national park – is by far the busiest, with a wide array of one to five day hiking, camping, and even kayaking options available for the casual to committed tramper. The largest and most popular campsite...read more

Travel Bug Bites

Carolyn here, reporting live with my first special-interest post! I'm half of this talented twosome some call "Carolorno"…or was it "Fornolyn"..."Carno"? It just doesn’t roll off the tongue like "Shiana"… Anyway, my contributions to this bodacious blogging duo are mostly behind the scenes, so I wanted to take this chance to jump out front and say hello. Also, don’t be afraid to show us some love by leaving comments! We wanna know what you love about the blog, what you can’t stand, and what you want more of (please say knock knock jokes). If you have no opinion, we love you anyway and want to know what you had for breakfast.

But the real reason I’m writing today is to tell you about insects, AND HOW THEY ARE THE MOST EVIL THING IN NEW ZEALAND EVER EVER EVER EVER. I grew up in the muggy South, so I’m no stranger to mosquitos. In Auckland, we breezed past the bug repellant aisle when we were loading up Flash – bug spray is for wimps and DEET can kill you, right? So wrong. A few weeks of beach-hopping and a few thousand bug bites later, we learned our lesson. Maybe we’re spoiled city slickers from New York, but it felt like these Northland mosquitos swarmed twice as hard and bit twice as often as those in the States. And when the mozzies were sleeping during the day, we were devoured by sandflies, a New Zealand specialty. The sandfly is a nasty little bugger because he looks like a harmless gnat to the untrained eye, but up close, his true, evil identity is revealed! Some of their bites are hard enough to draw blood.
We’ve also had bad luck with bees and wasps. I got stung while I was driving on the highway. The angry little wasp bounced off the sideview mirror, down the back of my pants, and stung me 3 times in the butt before I could pull over and jump out of the van (just like in Tommy Boy). Shawn's bee attack was more traditional. He got stung in the face. When we went through Auckland again we spent almost $100 NZ on the war against bugs. We bought itch creams for the bites we already had, spray repellant to drench our skin and clothes (80% DEET yo!), and a Raid mozzie lantern with smoke that kills every bug in a 10 foot radius. Consider yourself warned - this was not an overreaction.

The Abbey Caves in Whangarei

The Abbey Caves in Whangerei (pronounced "Fun-gah-ray") are ridiculous. There are no guides, no paths, we had the world's worst flashlight, and we had no clue what we were doing. It was “Kiwi Can-Do” at its finest.

Underground rivers and ponds with eels and crayfish cover the “path” – often reaching up to your hips with no way to see the murky bottom. Stalactites and stalagmites litter the path threatening your face and knees with scrapes and whacks, but we pressed on because when you turn off/drop your flashlight in the water, hundreds of sparkling blue glowworms shine overhead like beautiful alien constellations. Car thieves are the only downside, with break-ins reported every day. Signs at the parking lot warn you about it, but what are you gonna do? Miss the caves? Like I said, the Abbey Caves are ridiculous. Throw a club on the steering wheel, grab a glow stick or whatever you have handy, and head on down. It's awesome.

Destination Guide: Whangarei by Shawn Forno Travelers headed up the Twin Discovery Motorway to the northernmost tip of the Northland region of New Zealand will want to pass through Whangarei, the last largish city on the east coast before reaching Cape Reinga in the Far North Region. It’s a great place to stock up...read more How to Theft-Proof Your Car in New Zealand by Shawn Forno New Zealand is best seen from the open road. The spread out nature of the country, limited public transit options, and affordability of self contained camping make exploring from a personal vehicle the best choice for any tourist regardless of length of stay...read more

"Kill the Light" - a comic by Shawn Forno