I was awoken at the crack of dawn this morning due to the two girls in my room getting up early to watch the sunrise. This was a good thing however as my phone was in the bathroom on charge which meant I had no alarm. I trusted it there as there were only 3 of us which meant it would be pretty obvious who took it if it disappeared! Today I basically planned a trip into the Abel Tasman National Park which is easiest accessed by aqua taxi. This is because Kaiteriteri is 12km from the park, and also because there are very few roads to the park.
After having a quick and easy breakfast of French stick and crisps which is also my lunch, I headed down to the zipline in the nearby playground to kill time prior to my 9am departure. Many people only opted for one night in Kaiteriteri which meant they couldn't do the national park, and due to this only 4 people from kiwi experience signed up for my package entitled 'seals and sand' which was a hiking based trip. Other people did kayaking trips, although in general people were either relaxing, and some were talking about hitch hiking in!
Arriving just after 9, this small boat dwarfed by the other companies who offered taxi services turned up and I boarded which involved getting my feet wet along with these older people, primarily Americans. Our driver didn't hang around creating lots of splash before stopping at the split apple rock. It is called this because it looks like an apple cut in half, although legend says it is the remains of a hatched dragons egg. We then carried on deeper into the national park with such little development, dropping people off at Anchorage Bay en route. My group was dropped off at Torrent Bay which was more in heart of the park, only accessible by boat or 4wd.
It was annoying to start with because my feet were covered in sand and I needed my hiking trainers on. I eventually washed them and after waiting for the three Swedish girls to get ready we set off. They took ages though which meant I spent a while on this rope swing, pushed by the Americans at one point. The path left the sandy beach and quickly headed into woodland, climbing rapidly up these rocks to give a view of the beach below. Here I got the message the girls were painfully slow so made my excuses and tanked on in front. I wanted to do all the detours as well.
The path from remained pretty moderate through coastal woodland, heading inland for a while and crossing the odd stream. Every so often there would be cracking coastal views, often seen through standing on these rocks. Perhaps the best bit came as I gently descended through the dense woodland when I reached this really wobbly swing bridge over the Falls River. It was lots of fun and I managed to get a picture as some people passed me on it. There was a five person limit on the bridge however. Shortly after leaving the bridge I got to my first detour option down to Sandfly Bay which was the mouth of the river I just crossed. There were some impressive rocks covered in live mussels down here, as well as yet more amazing coastal views on the sandy beach.
After going back up the steep and rocky path back to the main route, it wasn't long until my next detour, this time to South Head. I didn't have to worry about hills here instead getting more aerial views of the bay I had been on as well as the opposite coastline and islands in the distance. When returning to the main path which went through the forest still, I headed just off the path to Medlands Bay which was my first drinking water fill up point, something much needed. This bay was far smaller than the previous one and had a small river flowing out to sea from it.
The next major point of interest along the coastal track was Bark Bay which was quite a busy beach with day trippers and trampers. I had the option of the shorter low tide track here along the beach, or the slightly longer high tide track which I opted for going through the woods inland. Shortly after going along here I got a look at the tramping hut which actually had pretty good facilities. From here it was primarily boardwalks over a river mouth estuary with brilliant plant life, before gently rising to the small waterfall which also had another swing bridge, which was brand new. You could see a previous path in the rocks which looked proper dodgy!
From here the path climbed at a harsh rate up and over this hill, once again through the trees. There were a couple a decent viewpoints going inland from here. After winding my way down this well used track I emerged at the Tonga Quarry which had a lot of Maori history attached it. If you're wondering the park is named after Abel Tasman who discovered this area in the 1600s. He didn't land however as there were culture differences between him and the Maori people everytime he tried. Somehow from this the park got its name. It wasn't far from the Tonga Quarry to my finish point at Onetahuti, arriving here with two hours to spare!
Due to my early arrival I explored the area starting with this small cave which was full of glow worms. I spent a while here exploring the rocks whilst it was low tide. After this I checked out the pool which was near this small campsite for the trampers. It was very peaceful being set in a secluded area of woodland with a small waterfall. I then walked along the large Onetahuti beach and back again which was a actually quite a long way, following these boardwalks across these newly built bridges over yet another river estuary. This then took me back to the aqua taxi point where I just lay down and relaxed on the beach for my half 3 departure.
The taxi arrived bang on time in the end and as part of the tour we got a seal spotting session around Tonga Island. We saw lots of little pups in this rock pool and these bigger ones on the rocks. They were all pretty cute! We then did loads of tricks on the boat, picking up people at other points back towards Kaiteriteri. It was nice passing all the beaches and bays I had walked on whilst going back. In the end we got back to Kaiteriteri at around half 4, getting slightly wet.
When arriving back I thought I would give my laundry a crack, although I had an awful experience as there was only one dryer which took ages! I was in a long queue when finally washing my load, which meant I ended up relaxing in the common room watching the simpsons and then the news, still with no luck. I therefore went out to the local chip shop for dinner having fish and chips as I couldn't be bothered to fight over the kitchen. In the end I finally finished my washing at just after 8, over 3 hours after starting! I was exhausted by this point which sent me to the bedroom, and after sorting a few things out it was off to bed.
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