Abel Tasman Coast Track

Onetahuti Beach

You could almost be forgiven for thinking that I was on some tropical paradise island.

For New Years, Claire and I walked 36km of the stunning Abel Tasman Coast Track over 3 days, definitely a New Years to remember.

It was quite a mission to get there, I had to drive nearly the length of the South Island, picking Claire up in Christchurch and meeting up with her sister Aimee at Hanmer Springs. We stayed the night at Hanmer Springs, going for a nice soak in the hot pools, before heading up to Marahau at the start of the track. Claire and I set out mid morning on December 31st for Anchorage (12.4km). It took us just over 4 hours to get there, we were treated to some stunning views of the coast. After a quick lunch we put up our tents and then lay on the beach in the sunshine. Being New Years Eve, the beach was pretty busy with people who had either walked into Anchorage, kayaked in with a tour group, or had taken the water taxi. At midnight everyone sat on the beach and watched an amazing fireworks display. An awesome way to bring in the new year!

Day two (New Years Day) started out very slow. About 5am it started raining and it didn’t stop until 11am. Everybody at the campsite was getting packed up, ready to catch the water taxi. Claire and I packed up our wet tents and headed out for Torrent Bay. There is a tidal crossing from Anchorage to Torrent Bay which could have saved us an hour of walking, but the time to cross was 2 hours either side of low tide, which wasn’t until 4pm and we were looking at a good day of walking to get to Onetahuti. The rain came and went during our hike over the all-tide track into Torrent Bay where there was another campsite and we stopped to have some lunch on the beach. While we were sitting there waiting for water to boil we could see people making their way over the Torrent Bay estuary, and by the time we had had our fill, they had made their way across the wet sand.  Perhaps we could have waited to cross the estuary at low tide. I was looking at the people who had waited to walk across in their bare feet through muddy puddles. My feet were already starting to protest a little by now, having softened skin from walking across the estuary would have been a recipe for blisters and disaster.

Leaving Torrent Bay we climbed up and over and around some valleys, crossing over Falls River by a swing bridge, before arriving at Bark Bay. Oh how the feet were complaining now! Blisters had started forming on the tips of my toes (thank goodness the shoes I was wearing were ones I wear every day at work, my feet were reasonably well adjusted) so it was time to stop and do some blister control. The added 15 odd kilograms I was carrying around on my back weighed down on my feet and they throbbed with each step. It was nice to rest them for a minute.

From Bark Bay it was back into the bush and then a very long and steep climb up to a saddle. At a guess we managed to get about half way up before needing a rest. I had to hold onto my mantra “one foot in front of the other climbs you a mountain” and just focused on where I was putting each foot rather than how much further we had to go. Claire attacked this vertical challenge like a boss and after another couple of rest stops we made it to the top. Now we had to walk all the way back down to sea level, just as challenging as the uphill.

Onetahuti. A sight for sore eyes after a total of 17.8km of walking challenging terrain. The view was blissful. Golden sandy beach and blue water beckoning us. First things first, off with the pack and shoes to soak the feet in the ocean. Set up camp, and then we proceeded to eat as much food as we could, leaving just enough for breakfast and lunch the next day. I was absolutely buggered. After a couple of card games and with a full belly, I went to bed at 8.30pm, looking forward to getting warm and cozy in my sleeping bag.

Day three (January 2nd). Last league of the trip to Awaroa. We got packed up and moving reasonably early in case there was a tidal crossing we would have to navigate. Thankfully a board walk had been constructed very recently over the swamp to provide another all-tide crossing. At Awaroa (5.3km) we caught the 12noon water taxi back to Marahau.

Highlights from Abel Tasman

In all, 35.5km of the Abel Tasman’s 48km done! I was looking forward to a hot shower.

Until next time, thanks for reading!