We were up early this morning as we wanted to do a little hiking in Abel Tasman National Park. There are two ways into the Park, one is a fairly long drive over bad roads. The second is by sea taxi. We called a cab. Departure time was 9:00am but we had to be there at 8:30am. The plan today was a bit of touring on the boat prior to getting off and hiking for a period of time.
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| Taxi Anyone |
The boat left on time and we made stops in Marahau ( Sandy Bay ) Torrent Bay, Barks Bay, Tonga Bay, Awaroa and Totaranui. Most of these places had campsites where you could tent and one actually had a resort where you could have lunch and then catch the next shuttle. All of the land we travelled in today is part of the Abel Tasman National Park. I knew that Abel Tasman discovered New Zealand, what I did not know was that it wasn't because he was looking for it or due to great navigational skills. The truth was he was lost.
On the ride up we made a couple of unscheduled stops with the first being Split Apple Rock. There are two thoughts behind the shape of the rock. The first being that during the ice age water found a vein in the rock and when it froze the rock split as it now stands. The second being that during a fight between Maori Warriors one of them took a great swing with his axe, missed his foe and hit the rock. Thus causing the split. I think I will go with the warrior’s story.
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| Split Apple Rock |
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| Split Apple Rock |
The second unscheduled stop was at an island to see if there were any seals around. There were a few but they didn't present many good photo opportunities.
The coast line the entire trip was very rocky and very rugged rising sharply away from the water. You would see miles of this rugged coast then all of a sudden there would be a bay with either golden yellow or white sand. The rocks of the coast would erode with time and wash up on the beach as sand. The color would depend on the content of the rocks, yellow sand if it had a stronger iron content and white if it had more of a marble base.
Once we reached the end of the line at Totaranui we turned around and started the return trip. We arrived in Barks Bay at 11:30AM and Kathy and I got off the boat. We were going to hike down to Torrent Bay where we would be picked up at 3:30PM for the return to Kaiteriteri.
We had 4 hours to make the 6 1/2 kilometer trip which would give us plenty of time to enjoy the hike. It was a beautiful day which made the hike even more enjoyable.
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| The Start |
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| Torrent Bay |
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| The End - Torrent Bay Beach |
Once we arrived at Torrent Bay we had lunch and just enjoyed the sunshine and the beauty until the shuttle picked us up. On the return trip it was interesting to notice how the coast line had changed. This morning the coast was almost entirely rocks and cliffs. However, in the afternoon with the tide out, the coast became dotted with little bays that were now beaches.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and soaking up the surroundings. It was a great day.
Day 55 ( Thursday ) was mostly another of those "did not" days. We did not move on. We did not go for a hike. We did not do anything strenuous. We did not do any chores. It was a fabulous resting day and we needed it.
There were a few do’s today. I did work on the blog. Kathy did do her Sudoku’s. We did do some forward planning on what we want to do next. We are leaving for the west coast in the morning and after researching it a little bit today we found that there is a lot to do and see. The entire west coast is the most protected and the most pristine land in the country. It will be exciting.
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