Abel Tasman National Park - A NZ Great Walk
We were fortunate enough to arrange accommodation through Abel Tasman Guides during a planned great walk along the Abel Tasman costal track over Christmas 2021. The plan was to spend the first night in the DOC hut, then camp the next two nights. We flew to Nelson and spent the first night staying in a hotel there, before our early pickup for transfers up to the start of the track at Marahau. The track was well formed and very easy to follow.
You need to carry in all the food you need for your tramp, along with cooking equipment. As we were camping as well, we had our trusty Big Agnes Copper Spur UL bike packing tent, which is great as the poles breakdown into shorter parts, and are easier to pack. I had minimal photography gear, just my Nikon Z6 and the 14-30 lens. I had bought an adapter that replaced the top of my walking pole with a 1/4”-20 tripod boss, this was an expensive disaster as it fell off on the first day. It was a small injection moulded part that had two 2mm diameter pins that held it on and they snapped, just through using the pole to walk with, without the weight of camera and lens.
The first night was spent in Anchorage hut, as a gentle introduction, very comfortable bunk rooms, but had the inevitable snorer in the room. There was also a great shared kitchen. The next day was a fairly early start as we had our first river crossing that needed to be timed to catch low tide.
Getting ready to leave the hut
The scenery at almost every turn was just stunning, during the day we had fantastic weather, but the light was very harsh for photography. This was also the first real test of my Aarn Pack and balance pockets, my pack was well over 12kg, by the time we added in electronic chargers and battery packs, as well as all the normal camping equipment. It may look a bit strange but is so much easier on your back and fatigue levels. I used a Peak Designs Capture Clip, this did make access to the camera easy, but also very secure. However, it did lock off the adjustable shoulder straps of the Aarn pack, so I need to spend some more time on mounting this better.
The next night was at Onetahuti Beach campground, we knew there would be problems with the curious and feisty Weka trying to get at our food, so we hung our packs up in the trees and kept no food in the tent, in the hope they wouldn’t peck a hole in our very expensive lightweight tent.
Weka proofing camp
This was also the first real encounter with New Zealand’s infamous sand flies on the trip and precautions had to be taken as soon as the sun started to set.
Minimum amount of exposed skin to avoid sand flies
We had to strike camp and make an early start as we knew we had to get to our first river crossing at Torrent Bay at low tide, we got there on time and only had a few channels to wade across in our recently purchased Crocs. The crossing was a combination of mainly sand with some silty patches that wanted to suck your shoes off, but at over 1 km wide and a 25 minute walk, it is formidable and not something that should be tackled without knowing correct tide times and with the right equipment.
The estuary at Torrent Bay , over 1 km wide and a 25 minute walk
Hot pizza, cold beer and cider
We knew we had a long day ahead of us, as we had to hit the next river crossing in the afternoon, before a long trek to the next campsite, this was the longest day at 18km. En-route was the Araowa Lodge a luxury lodge, but they also had a fantastic outdoor pizza oven. It was a detour off the track, but by this time we really wanted something that wasn’t dehydrated - this was our justification. Having spent longer than we expected eating pizza and recovering, I went to enquire about getting a water taxi across the estuary and to our next campsite. I casually asked if they had any rooms, and to our surprise they had, so having spent Christmas day and night under canvas, we thought we would treat ourselves to air-conditioned luxury and a good evening meal and breakfast.
Awwww - air conditioning and a great bed
The sudden onset of luxury made us realise that perhaps we needed a break, so this was effectively the end of our tramp, but has left us with un-finished business and the desire to finish the track another time. It was strange effectively back—packing in a luxury lodge, as we only had the tramping clothes we carried and felt decidedly scruffy, even by dress down kiwi standards. The following morning was spent chilling out on the beach, taking in the turquoise blues of the sea and Helen had a dip of course.
Gloriously hot weather - grateful to have some shade though
After our chilled out morning we checked out and packed our packs and made our way back to the beach to get a water taxi back to Marahau and our shuttle that would take us back to Nelson and another night in the hotel before flying back to Auckland. We timed the weather perfectly as the rain came as were leaving Nelson.
Good bye Abel Tasman, great views as we re-traced our steps back to the start by sea
Stay safe in the outdoors (Taken from DOC website)
Take the right gear for your trip: Walking and tramping gear lists.
Tell a trusted person your plans and when to raise the alarm if you haven’t returned. Send them the information directly, or use the Outdoor Intentions form (external site) or Plan My Walk (external site).
Follow the five essential steps of the Land Safety Code.
