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Published: February 4th 2007
Buena Vista Apartment
This was a great place to relax for a few days...peaceful and quiet...except for thousands of cicadas singing!Sensational South Island January 24-28
Since we had spent a lot of our first visit to New Zealand (10 years ago) in the South island, we chose to spend more time this trip in the North Island. However, the South Island is probably the more popular destination and there is no end of destinations to choose from.
We made Abel Tasman National Park our first stop, always regretting not getting there the last time. The park is in the North West corner of the island and is the smallest National Park in the country. After a three hour drive from the Picton ferry landing with a stop in the pretty seaside town of Nelson to get groceries, we arrived in Marahau in late afternoon. The last 15 km was a hair raising, nausea inducing ride over yet another mountain. The narrow roads have few guard rails and sheer drops into seemingly bottomless canyons, so we were pleased when we reached sea level, even though we couldn’t see much sea!
We discovered that the Abel Tasman area is home to one of the highest tides in the Southern hemisphere,(5 meters), and the bays and rivers were empty at low tide.
Paradise View Abel Tasman Track
The Abel Tasman track provides miles of spectacular views like this one. Coming from New Brunswick, we felt almost at home and we remarked several times on the similarities of not only the tides but the rugged coastline.
Perhaps that is one of the reasons that we loved this area. We had pre-booked three days in a spacious apartment and were determined to do as little driving as possible. We were ready for a rest and this place delivered. The Buena Vista apartment was tucked into the trees and the hum of the cicadas was a constant companion during our stay. The covered deck gave us the option to eat outside even on the one evening we had a bit of rain. Other than that, the sun shone brilliantly for three days.
The park is home to the famous Abel Tasman Coastal walk, one of New Zealand's ‘great walks’. The entire track takes 3 days and you need to book well in advance to secure a space in one of the huts along the route. We decided to walk several sections of it as day hikes and found the track to be excellent, not too hilly, and through lush rainforest with views and access to golden beached bays and turquoise
Launching Boat at Low Tide
An interesting way to get to the water. There were lots of these rigs making their way to the bay. coves that went on forever.
On the second day, we decided we wanted to get farther up the coast, so we made arrangements for a water taxi to take us to Torrent Bay at 9:00 am. We went to the designated spot, and were surprised to find our boat taxi in the asphalt parking lot, attached to a big farm tractor. At promptly 9, the tractor revved its engine and hauled our boat, fully loaded with passengers, to the bay and proceeded onto the mud flats toward the low water line. It was really cool to see many such vessels being towed by tractors right into the water, unhooked, then as we floated away, the tractor made its ways back to shore. Apparently the tractor driver has to be very knowledgeable as the flats and pools can be tricky to navigate, leaving more than the occasional driver stuck!
Our boat sped up the coast making a couple of stops before we had to disembark, wading to shore in bare feet, boots in hand. The hike was several hours and took as through wonderful scenery, past more deep ravines (one with a long suspension bridge swinging over the chasm)
Hec on Suspension bridge
It was a long way down to the river below! and out to the sparkling Bark Bay. We had lunch on the beach, wandered, relaxed and then made our way to the spot where our ‘taxi’ picked us up for the return trip. The day ended with Hector cooking us a great meal (I have not made any sort of transition back to domesticity…I think that skill set has been permanently erased from my memory!) and a bottle of New Zealand Chardonnay.
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anonymous
non-member comment
Am enjoying your travelogue. Thrilled you are having such a great time. Travel safe, and I'm looking forward to news of your most recent adventure! Regards, best wishes and thinking of you both Lynne Horsnell Shanks and EBD (Evil Black Dog) alias Secret the Schipperke xoxox L.