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Abel Tasman National Park Travel Blogs

Background: The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year, the British began the first organized colonial settlement. A series of land wars between 1843 and 1872 ended with the defeat of the native peoples. The British colony of New Zealand became an independent dominion in 1907 and supported the UK militarily in both World Wars. New Zealand's full participation in a number of defense alliances lapsed by the 1980s. In recent years, the government has sought to address longstanding Maori grievances.

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Latest Abel Tasman National Park Blog Entries
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By monkey_boy
December 9th 2009

A Taste of Paradise Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park

Photo 2

This hike is one of 6 named as ‘great walks’ throughout New Zealand, so we held high hopes as we approached Marahau (the start of the Abel Tasman Track).Following the last hikes disaster, we tentatively checked the weather forecast and found it to be very positive for all of the 3 days we planned to spend hiking the 52km track. Whilst in Nelson we had arranged for a water taxi to take us out to Toturonui which was maybe two thirds of the way north along the trail, unfortunately the water taxis did not take people all the way to the [View Full Entry]

By Compass Rose
November 7th 2009

Around New Zealand Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park » Marahau

church

Here are some photos [View Full Entry]

By Shivers Timbers
October 26th 2009

Abel Tasman National Park - Nelson, Kaiteriteri, Marahau, Murchison, Lewis Pass Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park » Kaiteriteri

World of Wearable Arts and Classic Car Museum

Oct 26-29 - Labour Weekend continues... (Monday-Thursday) After saying goodbye to the Woods and Sydney, who had to return to Timaru and to school, we headed to Nelson. Wow, were we lucky with the weather. It was sunny all morning, became overcast late morning, and basically rained the rest of the day and night. We drove through Nelson, which looks like a lovely sailing community, and to the World of Wearable Arts (WOW) and Collectible Car Museum. How cool is that to have something for the men and the women:) They were both great museums and wonderful displays of talent. I [View Full Entry]

By cleanpairofeyes
October 16th 2009

The Campervan Chronicles.. Part Two Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park

The Tasman Sea from Quad Bike Tour

Where did we leave off? I believe it was at the farm where we parked for the night. So the next morning we enjoyed some hot showers, packed up Lucy in the Sky and started driving out Kenburu Sounds. I recently had gotten a job out at a resort and had told my boss that I would drop in for a visit. When I said this I did know that this place was out of the way and was ready for it, or so I thought. It was Raphaels day to drive so here we were manouvering around endless sharp turns [View Full Entry]

By the kemps
October 14th 2009

Abel Tasman and Golden Bay - Stairway to Heaven #2 Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park » Marahau

This doesn look real

We left Murchison quite early and headed to Motueka to stock up on provisions for the next few days, making sure we raided a deli of at least five different cheeses before we left! We had been told of a really sweet place to stay right on the edge of Abel Tasman NP so after stopping off at a gorgeous bay for some lunch we made our way round the windy roads to the Barn and spent the afternoon getting to know our NEIGHbours over a few beers! The Abel Tasman is the smallest Nat Park in all of NZ but [View Full Entry]

By Leanne and Simon
October 12th 2009

Tramping in Abel Tasman Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park

Abel Tasman

We thought we would organise a trip into the Abel Tasman National Park from Nelson so caught a bus there but after discovering a lot of the trips charge $30 each to pick up from the city we thought we'd be better off going to Motueka where there is no extra charge. We did stay in Nelson for three nights at Tasman Bay Backpackers which provided free chocolate pudding and ice cream every evening. Unfortunately the hostel was also a base for an under-13s female hockey team. Who knew 13-year-old girls would be so noisy? So it wasn't quite the relaxing [View Full Entry]

By jayandnat
July 15th 2009

Water Taxi @ Abel Tasman National Park Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park

Kaiteriteri beach

Day 86 (Wednesday 15/07/09, NJJ) Drove to Kaiteriteri. Booked Abel Tasman boat trip for couple hours later. Took a short walk in the sunshine. Went to a cafe for hot chocolate yum. Boarded the boat at 12.30pm. Saw 'Split Apple Rock', some fur seals, a bottlenose dolphin playing in the surf from the boat, and went to the Marine Reserve. Weather started great, turned grey, then great again later. Later checked into Maitai Holiday Park. Relaxed for the evening. [View Full Entry]

By stewartgetslost
June 28th 2009

Brazilian beaches... in New Zealand??? Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park

George the Dolphin

From Picton, I headed west, through Nelson to the little town of Motueka, which is pretty close to the Abel Tasman National Park. Sadly, this is one place where time caught up with me, and instead of having 3 days there to complete the Abel Tasman track (one of New Zealand's Great Walks) I just had the one. This left me with 2 options. The cheap way was to just get a bus to Marahau, walk up the coast along the first section of the track, then walk back. The other option was to get a boat a bit further into [View Full Entry]

By Round The World Rach
June 22nd 2009

Nelson & The Abel Tasman Coastal Walk Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park » Marahau

SDC10143

Hello everyone Well I am going to have to miss out two blogs here because I've done something really stupid. I've left all the photos of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and my time down in Christchurch with Cat & Adam on a CD at Cat & Adams house. I had to clear my memory card to use in my new camera (my other one broke when I was doing the crossing) so I saved everything onto a CD and then left it there for safekeeping! Whoops, nevermind I'll just add those two on at the end when I get the CD [View Full Entry]

By BJones
May 28th 2009

Another quick one Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park

Yesterday I spent the day in Golden Bay. It was pretty sweet. There is this beach with windswept sand dunes and rocks on the beach with caves that went through them. I also went to the Farewell spit, but that was pretty uneventful. Today I woke up at 8 and got to Abel Tasman at about 10:15. I waited until about 11:15 for the aqua taxi that was supposed to come at 10:45 before giving up on that and heading in on foot. That park is amazing. I hiked for about an hour through tree ferns, ferns, and green trees over [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park