The Abel Tasman Trek & The South Island West Coast

The Interislander Ferry from Wellington (North Island) to Picton (South Island).

The Ferry route through the Cook Straight. The voyage takes around 3 hrs and is very beautiful but very windy on the top deck!!!

John snuggled into our 5 star hotel for the night in Marahu (a small coastal village), the starting point for the Abel Tasman tramp.

Early breakfast and pack up before the hike.

We took a water taxi to the top of the trek and got to travel through the marine reserve, where we got to see blue penguins(smallest penguin in the world) and a colony of fur seals.

A unique rock formation known as split apple rock left over from the ice age.

Getting dropped off at our destination Totaranui campsite, top of the trek.

We decided to do a little loop called Gibbs hill, which turned out to be not so little 18kms.

One of NZ's most popular ferns, the Black fern.

The Black Fern Tree beginning to grow, this is commonly referred to as a monkey tail

John in between some strange looking rock formations in one of the many beaches

Trekking along, our packs were quite heavy with all of our camping supplies.

Our first day where we stopped for a brief lunch and beautiful scenic lookout of the Tasman sea.

Some seriously steep hills we conquered and beautiful golden bay in the background.

An amazing sky at our first campsite Waiharakeke.

We had the beach to ourselves as there was only one other couple staying at the site

We made a campfire and had a small dinner and crashed after a long day of hiking (22kms)

Day 2: We had to do a coastal crossing at Onetahuti Beach. As the sign says there is only a small window of time to cross before the tide comes in.

Onetahuti Crossing, there were lots of little sea crabs scurrying into there holes and tons of shells covering the sea floor.

Our welcoming party once we crossed, perhaps a wax-eye.

Making our way down to our second campsite

Arrived at our second campsite Medlands.

The water was nice and refreshing.

Day 3: Starting the last leg of the trail

An old swing bridge, only 5 people allowed on at one time...little sketchy.

Stopping for a picture

Almost at our second tide crossing, Awaroa estuary in the background.

Anchorage Bay, one of the most popular coastal inlets, in peek season the bay behind me fills up with close to 150 sail boats.

Anchorage Bay Beach

Meet some furry friends along the way!

After 2  nights, 3 days and roughly 55kms later we reached the end of the Abel Tasman!

 

After the trek we decided to travel to some of the other local sights like the "Pupu" Springs.

Although it doesn't look like much but these springs are the largest freshwater springs in Australasia. On Average 14,000 liters of water a second is discharged from these springs, that's about 40 bathtubs full. There are large amounts of water flowing under the ground and is trapped expect for these spring holes which allow for some of the water to be release where as the rest flows out and is release through in the sea through other cracks.

We drove onwards and upwards to the top of the south island and saw the long thin peninsula known as Farwell Spit. There is a bird sanctuary out on the peninsula

This is what living out of your car looks like!

Mountainous peaks and deep water gorges, define the south island landscapes

A picturesque pit stop.

A very strange but friendly bird that we have only seen here on the south island. It looks a bit like a hawk in the face but crossed with a kiwi bird.

A wild and rugged west coast

A little windy and wet but still worth the stop

Pancake rocks, as coined by Cpt. Cook when he landed in NZ. They are about 30 million years old and are formed through erosion of the limestone by the sea bursting through a number of vertical blowholes during high tide.

The adventures continue.......