Wellington to Abel Tasman and Farewell Spit

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We woke up early Christmas morning and got on the ferry from Wellington down to the south island. The Interislander ferry was practically a cruise ship complete with a movie room, restaurant, and bar, though their Bloody Mary's could use some work. It was smooth sailin' down to Picton where we picked up our rental car and headed west towards Abel Tasman National Park. We had the whole day to meander our way over and stopped at pretty scenic lookout points along the way. Everything was closed for the holiday, so it was a good thing we stopped at the supermarket in Wellington the night before. After checking into our Buena Vista Apartment in Marahau, we cooked up big bowls of pasta to load up on carbs for our big Boxing Day hike. Took us three days to get through the coastal track of Abel Tasman. And for those who don't really camp, like myself, there is actually a water taxi that runs to/from points along the track and Marahau. So the first day we took the water taxi up to Bark Bay and hiked back to Marahau. The track is relatively flat terrain without too many crazy ups and downs, so it was more like a really long walk in the park and on several beaches. And by really long, I mean 9 hours, though that does include the hour and a half we spent eating lunch and napping on the beach while waiting for low tide in order to cross one of the bays. To change things up a little, we kayaked the second day along a middle stretch of the track. That was actually pretty grueling as the sea was quite angry that day. It was super windy and there were some sizeable waves that kept pushing us back. But we did duck into the very peaceful Shag Harbor for a little bit, which was nice. We also paddled out to a small island where a colony of NZ fur seals were hanging out. We finished up the last segment of the track on day 3, and by that point the beaches and bays started to all look the same. They were all very beautiful, but I could probably get away with labeling my pictures with any of the various names of beaches in the park, and no one including myself would ever know the difference. So looking back, we probably should have picked one and just hung out there for the third day with a cold beer in hand. We left Marahau right after the hike and drove further north and west to Takaka, one of the towns on the way out to Farewell Spit. We took an eco tour of the area the next day, which just entailed hopping on a bus on big wheels. Farewell Spit is a 35km long peninsula-like stretch of sand that can only be accessed by eco tour. I'm not much of a bird person, but the Spit is the nesting ground for gannets and a destination for many other species of birds migrating south for the winter. I actually fell asleep for the first half hour of the tour... Oops. But it was very pretty out there, and it was like going to the ends of the earth.

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Comments

[Carina]

Happy New Year!
Hey Em - I've enjoyed following your blog (it's on my daily read). It looks like you're having a great trip - lots of fun things! I'll reserve my joke about the fart pools ;) Happy New Year and a belated Merry Christmas!