Abel Tasman
The Abel Tasman is an incredibly beautiful part of the country. We are so lucky that we can experience via walking tracks, or even by water on kayaks if you want. In 2021 we decided to undertake a few days walking the famed track, and it did not disappoint. It was a moderate walking track, we didn’t find any of it too challenging - but did also not do the entire track. See below for the sections we walked.
I will confess I found organising our trip and navigating how to plan the Abel Tasman very confusing, so hopefully this helps anyone else wanting to plan a trip there.
We decided to not camp along the way, as this girl likes her home comforts so I set about trying to find accommodation, which was the biggest challenge. There are very few places to stay IN the park. Unless you find somewhere private, the only spot I found was Awaroa Lodge. It’s an amazing little oasis in the middle of the bush, but it cost us. We were visiting over peak time, so we paid top dollar at $470 a night (likely a lot more now!). That’s the most I have ever paid to stay anywhere and it took me a few days to accept that I wasn’t going to find anywhere else and we decided as it was a special trip for us, we would splurge. The price also included an epic full menu breakfast each day. It needs to be said - the food at this place is outstanding.
Price wise, we stayed in peak times - I think other times of year it is much more reasonable. Staying here meant water taxi’ing in and out (which you need to book in advance, we used Aqua Taxi), or walking in and out. So here is the breakdown of how we coordinated 3 days walking.
Day 1: Marahau to Anchorage Bay
Drop bags to Water taxi in Marahau by 9am, then start walk to Anchorage Bay (12.5kms / approx 4hrs). Bags were sent to Awaroa ahead of us. The walk was spectacular and relatively easy, we were picked up by our Aqua Taxi at 1.45pm and taken to Awaroa, which meant we had most of the afternoon to enjoy there. We swam at the absolutely INCREDIBLE Awaroa beach (look up the history of this amazing spot!) and had pizza for dinner at the Pizzeria.
Day 2: Bark Bay to Awaroa (skipped Anchorage to Bark Bay)
We caught our Aqua taxi at 10.30 to Bark Bay, which ended up going on a big tour of all sorts of places (not planned) so we didn’t get there until after 12pm. We weren’t too concerned as we had all day to make our way back to Awaroa lodge. This day was a harder walk, with several uphill sections, most notably just outside of Bark Bay. This was our favourite day though, although more challenging the track was quieter, the scenery amazing and lots of cheeky little Weka and wonderful bird life. We made it back to Awaroa in time for a cold cider at the Pizzeria and a game of outdoor chess, followed by an incredible dinner at the restaurant.
Day 3: Awaroa to Totoranui
We had planned to walk for 3 days (walk Awaroa lodge to Totoranui and then water taxi back, 7kms) but we instead decided to spend the day at Awaroa beach. We knew we would be leaving the next day and hadn’t allowed time to just relax and spend time at the beach - and I’m so glad we decided to do this. We spent the most amazing morning at the beach, swimming multiple times, building dams in the estuary and bathing in the 24 degree sun (with plenty of sunscreen of course!!). It was one of the best days in recent memory. If you stay at the lodge, make sure you allow some time to do this.
Day 4: Awaroa to Marahau
We opted for a late aqua taxi at noon, which got us back to Marahau at 1.30pm. We then drove to Canvastown for the remainder of our trip.
Abel Tasman Tips:
1. The first step is deciding which portions of the walk you want to do. I found this map handout from DOC particularly handy.
2. Decide whether you want to carry all of your belongings and sleep in the doc huts or campground along the way, or whether you want to water taxi in and out. Doing it the later adds significant cost, but for us was worth it. Once you have this decided, you can look for accommodation either in Kaiteriteri or Marahau or stay in the park like we did, at Awaroa Lodge.
3. Make sure you book any water taxi’s in advance.
4. Take your own fixings for lunch & snacks.