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Published: November 12th 2006
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Totaranui Beach
At the start of the tramp Motueka is the gateway to the Abel Tasman national park, on the North Western coastline of the South Island. From here we hired camping equipment and packed our food for a two day mini expedition into this popular National Park - a small taster but all we could squeeze in as our departure for the North Island was drawing closer. On our first day, we arranged for a water taxi to zip us along the western coastline, dropping off our provisions at Bark Bay where we planned to camp that night and then taking us to our starting point at Totaranui. Logistics aside, the boat trip and skipper gave us a useful guided tour of the tramping path we would follow, across shorelines and cliffsides. The waters here are aquamarine and the sand is like golden syrup due to the iron ore content in the rocks. As we walked through the vegetation along the gentle path, we realised we hadn't let ourselves in for a tough hike, just as well considering the heat of the sun. Tom and I felt that we had hit the Summer months and strangely that we had left NZ behind (or the picture we had created
of the typical NZ, in our minds). Although we thought we'd planned the trip well, when we reached the Awaroa Inlet we realised that we couldn't cross the causeway as the tide was still high (we had been informed that we could cross this causeway four hours either side of low tide when in fact this should have been two!) So all we could do was eat our lunch and siesta until we could comfortably wade across. Considering we'd lost two hours, Tom and I knew that we'd probably be walking the last few K's in the dark!
Despite the mess-up, we made a detour to the "posh" Awaroa Eco lodge which costs 200 bucks a night. I had a snoop and looked at the organic garden whilst Tom bought batteries for the flailing camera (he takes too many pictures). We're pretty lucky that we could buy them in the wilderness - just look at the pics we would have missed! We then got a wriggle on, eating up the K's until we reached the beach crossing at Tonga Quarry which used to be an old quarry site. Thankfully the only sign of this is the occasional hole drilled
Slaving Over A Hot Stove
A late dinner at Bark Bay Hut into a boulder where they used to pry open the rocks. Dusk was falling upon us so we pressed on, torch poised for the rest of the trek. As we couldn't see much I can't really describe the rest of the walk - all I know was that there were a lot of possums rustling around in the bushes, feeding our overactive imagination. When we arrived at Bark Bay it was pitch black and we didn't recognise anything! Not a clue where the hut was or where our food and camping equipment had been left. Luckily we saw the distant light of the DOC hut across the estuary. Thankfully the tide was out this time and with the help of its inhabitants we were able to locate our dinner! Let's put it down to experience - check the tide charts!
The next day we were pleased that we would make our way back to the park entrance by sea kayak as we both had weary legs. After a short briefing on the two-man kayaks we were on the waves. The instructor was impressed with T's kayaking technique and thanks to his paddling, we were able to motor across the
sea to a seal colony on one of the craggy islands. Also we meandered down an estuary at Sandfly beach where 10 juvenile seals were playing around our kayaks, dancing with our padals and even trying to climb on board. As they were so friendly it was tempting to pet them but we respected the wildlife and saved our fingers. After lunch, paddling back became progressively more difficult as we were facing head winds of 30-40 knots. In fact, two kayaks in our party were towed by our instructor but thankfully Tom and I were able to pull ourselves into the nearest beach. There you go, you never know what mother nature is going to throw at you. Despite sore wrists and shoulders we were pleased to have attempted the kayak and at least we managed to get up close and personal with the seals. The final part we had to walk in flip flops and bikinis/beach shorts - much to the amusement of fully kitted out hikers entering the park!
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Lindsay
non-member comment
the Kayak Team
I thought that the cox was at the back?