Walk 11 - Abel Tasman Track 'Great Walk' |
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Day 1: Wainui to Awaroa - the northern end After a 5 hours drive up from Christchurch to Motueka, our base for the week, we decided to set out a day earlier than planned - the next day was forecast as the one fine day of the week! For various reasons we did the walk in the reverse sense to most, taking a bus to the northern trackhead at Wainui, 80 km north of Motueka. The interesting geological, historical and sociological commentary on the region by driver Colin made the trip pass quickly. |
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The track from the hut followed the beach then climbed quickly up through the dense low forest, with its varied shades and textures of green to pass over a lower saddle and drop down to the eastern shoreline of the National Park. |
Finally we arrived at the tidal Wainui inlet by late morning and the three of us set out on the Abel Tasman Track. The broad grassy track climbed steadily up through a shrubby vegetation dominated by the bright green whiteywood and dull green invasive gorse, with tree-fern lined gullies. As it climbed, views opened up over Golden Bay and the mountains of the Kahurangi National Park to the west. Once over the 200m saddle (the highest point on this track), we descended gently through denser forest, often shaded by flowering manukas, until we reached Whariwharangi Hut, a beautifully restored old 19th century settlers hut in a clearing near the white sands of Whariwharangi Beach; a perfect place for a break. |
Glimpses of beautiful sandy coves and clear green water appeared through gaps in the foliage and suddenly we emerged onto the magnificent sweeping curve of Ahatakapau Bay; a couple of yachts sheltered in the lee of the rocky headland at its southern end, a few trampers strolled by, but the bay still retained a superb feeling of isolation - a perfect spot for lunch. |
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From Totaranui, the track followed the coastline southward, crossing the lookout at Skinner Point, and wandering along Goat Bay. At the southern end of the beach, a small grove of rata, covered in brilliant red flowers, dominated the skyline above Ratakura Point. We zig-zagged up and over the point, following the narrow track along a steep shaded slope above the ocean, dropping back down on to the sand at Waiharakeke Bay. |
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Day 2: Awaroa to Onetahuti
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Waiting in the rain
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Day 3: The southern end by kayak |
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We set out to sea, staying in the lee for as long as possible. Soon a kayak with two saturated people in it came back the other way - they had abandoned their attempt at the "mad mile", because of the rough seas and not being able to make progress into the strong head wind. We decided that we should at least have a look at it. |
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Rounding Te Karetu Point, we were in it; the wind whipped spray into our faces as the metre swell and angled wind waves combined to create a surging, rolling platform for our kayaks; today the mad mile was very mad indeed. Another group of kayaks were a few hundred metres ahead - with a rush of "if they can, we can" adrenalin, we pushed on into the washing machine ahead. |
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Pinnacle Island, a fur seal haul out |
The remainder of our trip for the day seemed anticlimactic - at any other time we would have considered the seas quite rough, but they seemed positively smooth as we pushed our way out of Torrent Bay, up the coast past Pinnacle Island, where fur seals basked nonchalantly on the rocks and around into the calm waters of Bark Bay, our destination. Hauling the kayaks up past the high tide mark, we unloaded, changed and set up camp. It was good to be in dry clothes once again. |
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Day 4 - Wet, wet, wet
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The walk was singularly morose - we had barely set out in full wet weather gear when the rain finally stopped and by the time we reached Onetahuti the sun was shining. What fickle weather - tricking us into choosing the wrong option! Despite passing through beautiful forest with water cascading off the Abel Tasman hinterland down every channel that could hold it, we allowed the disappointment of a goal unachieved to gnaw at our spirits. The arrival of a water taxi at Onetahuti at the same time as us allowed for an outburst of folly. We jumped onto the boat and sped back to Bark Bay, where Robyn and I quickly changed into wet shirts and bathers, leapt into the kayaks and headed off out sea again, leaving Nello to complete packing up and ponder on the madness of her loved ones - we would complete the planned kayaking leg after all! As we left the bay and passed aptly named Foul Point and headed for Tonga Bay, the sky clouded over and the heavens opened up with a steady cold rain splashing large drops on a leaden sea. Soaking wet and alone on the water, we couldn't have been happier! - even the fur seals lazing on the rocks lining the dark emerald water seemed to cheer us on; we were fulfilling a goal. |
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Clear blue skies and barely a breath of wind, so different from when we had last been here. After a trip up the coast by water taxi to Bark Bay, we commenced our 18km day-walk. The track led around the southern end of the bay before traversing a low forested saddle to cross Falls River via a long swingbridge. From here, the track wound its way through several low ridges and valleys under tall ferns, beeches and podocarps. |
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From here a short steep climb over a low ridge brought us out to the calm blue waters of The Anchorage, the smooth curve of its golden beach giving it a post-card ambience. After lunch and a snooze on the sandy beach, we continued on. The track passed by a swamp at the southern end of the beach before climbing up a dry spur covered with a scattering of low shrubby plants, probably the most desolate landscape in the park, but one which provided glorious views back over The Anchorage and Torrent Bay to the north and out toward Adele Island and the Astrolabe Roadstead to the east. It provided a new perspective looking down on this stretch of coastline that we had kayaked up with our daughter, Robyn, six weeks earlier.
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From here the track turned inland and commenced a meandering passage around a series of hills, keeping a level contour and wandering from drier Kanuka scrubby bush to cooler, damper forest dominated by large rimu, an interesting tour of some of Abel Tasman's many microhabitats. Soon we were back at the coast, and although the track stayed quite high above the shoreline in the lush forest, it gave many great views down on to the sandy beaches and rocky coastal sections that line the Park. Reaching Appletree Bay, we dropped down on to the beach to check out our old kayaking lunchspot, before a steep climb back up to the track at its southern end, where a set of old garden hoses tied together served as a local climbing aid. |
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