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Published: June 19th 2011
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We had another early start to catch our boat out of Kaiteriteri. We drove the same way as yesterday, but when we got to the start of the mountains we turned north to the shore instead of winding our way up into the hills. We had about a forty minute drive and reached the beach where our boat was "docked" right up to the sand. We were nearly at high tide, so this was an easy maneuver.
We launched at 9:15 with four other couples aboard a vessel that seated up to 70, so we had plenty of space. Our itinerary for the day was to have a tour up the coast of the Abel Tasman National Park. Although this is the smallest of all New Zealand's national parks, it is the most popular. The ride would be about 90 minutes up the coast and then another half hour back down where we would be dropped off at Bark Bay for a three hour hiking time after which we would be picked up south at Torrent Bay and taken back to Kaiteriteri.
The morning air was crisp and it got downright cold in the boat, even under the protection
of the glass windowed shelter at the front. The tour was interesting and our captain's dry sense of humor was appreciated. We checked out some of the coastal formations like Split Rock as well as some natural carved tunnels in the limestone rock. The nesting shags were in full display of the mating season with the males showing off their "make-up" around their eyes (it looks like blue eye shade) and the white stripes on their head and a cool spiked hairdo.
We went into one large bay that actually houses a small community. This land was already private prior to the development of the national park around it and continues to be a vacation spot for the homeowners. Home prices start around $1m NZD and the homes can only be reached at high tide by water or via helicopter which thankfully some homeowners possess. We had hoped to see some eagle rays in this bay, but the full moon caused such a high tide that the water was a bit too deep (around 7-8 feet) to see any. This entire bay will be gone in a few hours at low tide which demonstrates the effects of the nearly
5 meter swing in depth between low and high tide.
On the back side of Adele Island, we saw a huge group of New Zealand Fur Seals. Most were pairs of mother and pup. As if on cue, the pups jumped in the water and put on quite a show. They were chasing each other, jumping out of the water and coming up to the boat to check us out. The show was such as the captain had never seen before in this area. It was a lot of fun to watch.
After our turn around, we were dropped off at Bark Bay to start our hike. Bark Bay is one of the bays in the park with camps set up. These camps are for "tramping" across the park. They have tent sites and a large cabin for which you can rent beds that are set up bunk style for many campers. Some people hike to these camps and others kayak from camp-to-camp and then take hikes around them. Without side trips down to bays and overlooks, we had about a 7 kilometer hike ahead of us. We started off and immediately rose above the bay on a
narrow track with peaks of the water below through the tree ferns and thin-trunked pine trees. There was a group of teens on the beach below who must have stayed in the cabin the night before and were waiting for a boat to pick them up. Three couples from our boat were dropped off as well. Two B-lined for the trail and we didn't see again. The third couple checked out Bark Bay and then shortly passed us. After a few minutes, we found a turn off to an overlook which we took and ate our lunch with a nice view. Two young girls made it to the point and snapped a couple of pictures and left. They were the last folks we saw on the hike until we joined the others at our pick up point. Amazing.
Suzy, Theo and I were behind Geddy & Ivy but shortly found them having descended a trail to Sand Fly Bay. Not the most inviting of names, but as we started down to the beach it looked well worth the trek. We had been forewarned about the steepness of the hike down to this particular bay and it lived up to
its reputation. The slightly receding tide still covered part of a sand spit between a pond formed by a stream and the ocean. The side of the beach that we were limited to had nice rock formations and a beautiful view of the surrounding bay and a pair of islands off the coast. We hung out for a while before Geddy & Ivy took off leaving the rest of us to make our ascent back to the main trail.
We had a nice hike through the park, passing over several small bridges with occasional water views. We passed over a large suspension bridge that connected two sides of a ravine over a river (the Falls River Swing Bridge). The bridge swayed with our footsteps but seemed solid enough for passage without too much concern. At one point we found a pool that had steps down to it. Its depth of about 5 feet was defied by the clarity of the water which made it look much less than that. A steady flow from a stream above fed the pool and it must be well-used in the summer. It was so inviting that I considered a quick dip but Theo
was amazed at how cold the water was, so I put the thought aside.
We finally descended the trail to Torrent Bay where Geddy was swinging on a rope swing and Ivy was sitting on the beach looking for shells. The boat arrived shortly and we were presented with the opportunity of boarding now that the tide had pulled back quite away from the beach. We were warned that this would either require wet feet or the donning of some interesting apparel. The boat had a limited number of rubber pants that you stepped into, shoes and all. They had suspenders and came up just above the waste. They won't be making any fashion shows but they got the job done. The first mate carried Geddy & Ivy across one at a time and I put Theo on my shoulders and we made the walk through the water back on the boat.
When we got back to the beach at Kaiteriteri, the kids got to play on a cool zip line in a park across the street. This is something that just wouldn't fly in the US due to lawsuits, but it started from a platform and swung
a good 120 feet down the line. It was strong enough for all of us to have a go on it.
Another amazing day in New Zealand.
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