Tag: abel tasman national park

NZ Road Trip – Day 4 (Abel Tasman National Park – Wellington, 22 September)

We started our day with a hot shower to clean ourselves after the hike and prepare us for a travel day ahead of us. We were driving to the ferry in Picton to go to the north island.

Low tide when leaving Marahau (22 September 2016)

After breakfast, we filled our fresh water tank and then rolled out from the camping site at 9 am. We topped up on diesel and started making our way back over the curvy mountain pass.

Vineyard in Marlborough (22 September 2016)

Apart from a nature call, we drove straight to the ferry terminal. We drove past many wineries, which seemed understandable as Marlborough is one of the largest wine regions in New Zealand.

We arrived at Picton and the ferry terminal at 12:15 pm with one hour to spare before final check-in. During this time we made ourselves some soup for lunch, which we ate in the car. Time passed, and we had eaten our lunch and drunk some coffee, before boarding a man from the ferry company came and asked us concerning an alga that is present only on the south island. He asked where we were from and then went on to say how beautiful Stockholm is and complained only that the E4 highway in Sweden is a bit boring.

Gustav on the ferry leaving Picton (22 September 2016)

Linnea on the ferry leaving Picton (22 September 2016)

At 1:50 pm or so, they started boarding the cars onto the ferry. We parked our van on the lower car deck and proceeded up to deck seven where we watched the ship leave the shore. Then we bought a coffee (a caramel latte, yum!) and a panini sandwich and sat down to watch our journey through some large windows in the front of the ship.

Our afternoon fika on the ferry to Wellington (22 September 2016)

As the ship left the archipelago, the sea became a bit more rough, although it was still quite calm. Linnea felt a bit ill and needed to sit and watch the horizon in order not to get seasick. We both made it through without any incidents, but the ship was late on arrival in Wellington.

Arriving in Wellington (22 September 2016)

When we drove off the ship, we made our way towards a Countdown (the New Zealand branch of Woolworths) for some groceries. As we got to the parking garage for the store, we realised that our van was too big for the garage height and we had to find somewhere else to park. We ended up driving a couple of blocks down and turning back, not so much because we couldn’t find a parking spot, more because of the hectic traffic and needing to slow down in order to park in the spot.

We finally parked 700 meters from the store, walked there, and bought our supplies. From the store, we drove to our campsite for the night – Evans Bay Marina. It’s located next to the water and the docks for smaller boats. We fixed supper, wrote some blog post, and went to bed.

Our campsite in Wellington (22 September 2016)

G’night! / Gustav & Linnea

NZ Road Trip – Day 3 (Abel Tasman National Park, 21 September)

Today was a very special day. It was Gustav’s birthday!

In celebration of this, we stayed for the whole day in Abel Tasman and didn’t do any driving. By the way, that’s the only day we’ve planned to stay at the same campsite during this trip. We started the day by talking to Gustav’s parents on Skype. It’s a bit fascinating that the time difference is so substantial (10 hours at the moment) that Gustav’s parents are still having the day before at the time of the Skype.

Afterward, Linnea started making a pancake gateau, with Nutella, ice cream and candy decorations on top. As the Swedish saying goes; “Man tager vad man haver!” (”You take what you have!”)

Breakfast (21 September 2016)

Gustav enjoying his breakfast (21 September 2016)

This delicious monstrosity was eaten outside the campervan, out in the sun at our portable table that we rented with the van. We sat there for quite some time, admiring the landscape, and also Gustav opened his present.

When we were done with the cake, we thought about renting a kayak for the day and called the company operating close by. Unfortunately, they had only one drop off time during the low season, and it had been early in the morning. It would have been nice if they had written that in the brochure…

A little disappointed with the kayaking company, we quickly came up with a plan B. Which was hiking in the national park!

Linnea had read about the stunning beaches alongside the coast of the national park, so it was quite fitting that our campsite was located right next to the starting point of Abel Tasman Coastal Walk. We looked up on the map how far it would be to walk to Te Pukatura Bay in the middle of the park, and it was roughly 12 km one way. We didn’t feel discouraged by that, nor were particularly concerned by the fact that none of the signs at the starting point had that bay on it.

Sandy Bay under water (21 September 2016)

Gustav starting out the hike in Abel Tasman National Park (21 September 2016)

We started walking the same track as when we ran the evening before. This time, it was high tide, and most of Sandy Bay was under water. We continued on the track past Porters Beach and up along the coast.

We kept a steady fast pace, since we wanted to reach the stunning beaches in the middle of the national park, and also a tiny bit due to the fact that we were tracking our pace with Runkeeper. We felt like beating our record for the furthest and fastest hike!

Linnea, enjoying her view in Abel Tasman National Park (21 September 2016)

A lone seagull at Akersten Bay (21 September 2016)

After passing a few bays, we felt like it was time for lunch and walked down to a gorgeous small beach at Akersten Bay with two benches available. At first, we had some company by other hikers, but then they all went, and we were alone at the beach. We finished our lunch and drew a mark in the sand before continuing.

At Stilwell Bay, Abel Tasman National Park (21 September 2016)

We pretty much went straight up the cliff to a lookout where we could see both the beach, another bay on the other side, and a boat that was anchored gleaming in the water. We had a coffee break there, sitting on a rock and feeling tired but wonderful.

Gustav at the cape at Akersten Bay (21 September 2016)

Moving on we kept our fast pace, feeling energised we passed 10 km walked. The rainforest continued on and on, the track going up and down the cliffs and always curving back and fourth. Notably, there were no railings on this track, not even when you were walking high up, and there was a straight plunge down to the water. But fortunately the path wasn’t that narrow, so we didn’t think about is most of the time.

A pair of Weka or Maori hen in Abel Tasman National Park (21 September 2016)

Passing a corner we saw some strange shapes moving towards us on the path. Coming closer we saw that it was two birds that looked a bit like the Kiwi Bird, but bigger from our estimate. They didn’t move off the path, not even when we walked passed them. They just kept walking the path like they were a couple just like us out on a stroll. Birds in New Zealand are weird. (The birds turned out to be Weka or Maori hen).

We finally made it to the middle of the park! The view from the top of the hills was amazing. For the final stretch of our hike, we decided not to go to Te Pukatura Bay. Instead, we went to Watering Cove.

Linnea and Gustav with The Anchorage, Abel Tasman National Park (21 September 2016)

We were alone on the beach there too. Probably because of it being the low season, so a big tip we want to give is to visit NZ during the low season!

Linnea at the Watering Cove (21 September 2016)

At Watering Cove, we were thinking about taking a swim. So we changed into our swimmers and started walking into the water. We had got to our ankles before we stopped. It was very cold, and the sun was no longer shining into the cove not making things better.

Linnea and Gustav at the Watering Cove (21 September 2016)

Being happy with just bathing our feet, we got dressed and started our journey back to the campsite.

As time was rushing on and our walk had taken quite a lot of time going one way, we walked back in a brisk tempo with few stops. It was good that we decided to head back when we did, because when we had a few kilometres left it was really starting to get dark, and we only had a flashlight. But we made it back in time before it was completely dark.

Sandy Bay (21 September 2016)

Back in the campervan, we at a three-course dinner consisting of carrot sticks and dip as the appetiser, spaghetti and sausage in tomato sauce as our main course, and last but not least, fruit salad (a.k.a. fruit cocktail) with ice cream for dessert.

Fruit salad (fruit cocktail) for dessert (21 September 2016)

After dinner, we went out for a short bit to look at the sky. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky making it very easy to see the stars. It was an awe-inspiring experience.

/ Linnea and Gustav

NZ Road Trip – Day 2 (Hanmer Springs – Abel Tasman National Park, 20 September)

Paying for the vans bedding proved to be worth it during the first night already. We did not have any heater on as we were running low on the battery for the living area and were not hooked up to an external power source, so during the night we woke up a couple of times because it was freezing in the van.

Morning in Hanmer Springs (20 September 2016)

We made it through the night and woke up at 6:45 am and had slept 9.5 hours. We used the facilities at the camping site and fixed ourselves a sandwich each before driving off. We only drove for a short while before stopping for full-on breakfast. Coffee, yogurt, and sandwiches were our breakfast made up of. We ate it at a rest stop at the table located there. We shared the table with a French woman about our age from Lyon who had been living in New Zealand since October last year. She was making breakfast for herself and her boyfriend, who was still sleeping in their truck.

On our way from Hanmer Falls (20 September 2016) At Maruia Springs (20 September 2016)

We talked to her while we ate our breakfast but had finished eating before her boyfriend woke up. After breakfast, we drove off continuing our way north. Our first stop was at Maruia Springs where we bought a cappuccino and a scone and walked down to the stream to admire the nature. We risked the dryness of our shoes and walked out on some rocks to a section in the middle of the stream. It paid off; we got some nice pictures, and only the soles became somewhat wet (on Gustav’s shoes).

Maruia Springs (20 September 2016) Cappuccino and scone bought at Maruia Springs (20 September 2016)

 

Our next stop was at Maruia Falls. The view there was really beautiful as well, but the currents in the water seemed quite treacherous. In the stream below the fall, there was a whirlpool where a great number of trees were going round and round. So that would not have been a good place to bathe. But the park bench was a good place for lunch. Soup in a cup and a sandwich, which kind of feels like a camping classic. Our lunch was unfortunately disturbed by a few biting flies that seemed to think that we looked tasty.Maruia Falls (20 September 2016)

In Murchison, we bought more supplies at a Four Corners store before driving the last bit to get to our next camping site, The Barn Backpackers in Marahau. As the day progressed, the roads seemed to get narrower and curvier. In New Zealand, they often put up recommended top speeds in sharp curves. The lowest speed we had encountered during the first portion of our driving was 35 kph, so as the first 25 kph sign appeared we both exclaimed “25?!” So, yes, the roads were really curvy.

The road to The Barn Backpackers in MarahauThe Barn Backpackers in Marahau (20 September 2016)Running to the beach in Marahau (20 September 2016)

At The Barn, we registered and paid at the reception and were glad to hear that hot showers were free. We parked our campervan in power site 11 and hooked up the power, after which we started charging our phones and extra batteries. When the electronics were connected, we put on our running clothes and went for a jog along the coast in Abel Tasman National Park to Porters Beach.

Sandy Bay in Marahau (20 September 2016)

The forest was really thick, but when we got out to the beach we were met by a wide expanse of sand. As it seemed to be low tide, the water was really far out, and there were seashells everywhere. Linnea picked a few shells, still unsure if we’re allowed to bring them back even to Australia. There were seashells the size of your hand there, unlike anything you would be able to find in Sweden!

Linnea with a shell in Sandy Bay, Marahau (20 September 2016)

After our jog, we made dinner consisting of noodles and tomato sauce. It was good! Then we took a hot shower and watched a movie. Hopefully, this night will be warmer, now that we’re able to have the heating fan running.

/ Gustav & Linnea