When Hiking and Swimming go Hand-in-Hand
09/02/18 – 11/02/18
Abel Tasman Coast Track
If there is one coastal hike you’d hear about in New Zealand that’s famous, it’s this one because of its accessibility and beauty. Abel Tasman National Park is a relatively small park to the North West of the town of Nelson on South Island. The Abel Tasman Track is a roughly 60km hike on easy terrain with some tidal crossings. It’s typically completed as a 3-4 day hike in completion, but there are so many ways to day hike various sections via water taxies, it’s common to see the day hikers all over the trail – this makes it very popular. There are many coves, and small beaches with some of the most beautiful granite coastline I’ve seen.
Day 1 – Marahau to Watering Cove
I had camped in the backcountry the night before and needed to drive about two hours to arrive at the township of Motueka, where I dropped off my bag of expensive luggage to the visitor centre for $2 per day. This takes the anxiety away of leaving my irreplaceable possessions unattended in a car park.
Nearing 2pm, I began the Abel Tasman Coast Track from Marahau. It was only a suggested 4 hour hike to my first pre-booked campsite. On all great walks you need to pre book online for huts or campsites. I found it easy to avoid on the Tongariro Northern Circuit, but this trail had many more sites and the campsites were all in coves with little beaches – this made them more desirable. I chose to stay at Watering Cove and Waiharakeke Bay – two smaller campsites away from the areas with guys and more people.
Along the way I passed many fantastic swimming spots and beautiful turquoise coloured water.
Watering Cove
It only took me 3 hours to arrive to Watering Cove (I’m always faster than the suggested times). To my surprise, there was only one tent there out of the five possible. I set up in a prime spot. After setting up my tent, a swim was in order. Damn… It was so warm and nice with no crashing waves – how beaches should be.
A few other people rocked up, and we ended up having dinner at the only bench with some conversation. Most of the others were young and German. They were all nice, and we end up chatting to 9pm before heading to our tents.
Day 2 – Watering Cove to Waiharakeke Bay
Breakfast in my tent with the beach sunrise was nice. I ended up leaving around 7:30am, and decided to have a look at Te Pukotea Bay to see why this area was always booked out. It was a nice spot, a bigger version of the little cove we had really. I was pretty happy with Watering Cove though.
Cleopatra’s Pool
The weather wasn’t looking the best. But there were only sprinkles of rain at best throughout the day. It wasn’t long before the side trip to Cleopatra’s Pool, nice little swimming hole and cascade.
At Torrent Bay, you can either take the low or the high tide route. It was low tide, and I took that route to save some time. I had somewhat of a deadline to reach Awaroa Inlet within the grasp of low tide, otherwise I’d be stuck on this side until the next day.
I passed many of the other campsites along with way including those that received some serious storm damage, like Bark Bay.
Most people would have camped at Tonga Quarry or Onetahuti Bay for the second night, but I was fine to push on.
Tidal Crossing at Awaroa Inlet
By the time I made it to Awaroa Inlet, the large tidal crossing it was 3pm, and three hours after low tide. I figured I was tall enough and waded through the rising waters.
Waiharakeke Bay
After the tidal crossing it was only a small stretch to Waiharakeke Bay, where I aimed to camp. It was a nice enough campsite tucked away in the forest behind the beach, perhaps a little sloped, but fine. The beach was a delight to swim at after a long days hike.
Day 3
The Rain
Rain… rain… more rain…
It’s one of the hardest decisions – getting up and packing up camp whilst it’s pouring. You think that the rain won’t last long and wait for that gap where it might stop. I knew it wasn’t coming, and packed up everything inside the tent until it was just the tent itself left. I’m pretty efficient at the whole process, and within 3 minutes, the entire tent is in my pack. Most of it was wet, but I still put the semi-wet inner inside, and the rest of the tent stayed in the external pockets.
Rain hiking is not fun, but it’s not horrible if you’re warm. I still foolishly wear my rain jacket, knowing I will only sweat underneath and before long the rain also penetrate through its defences. I’d worn it long enough to know basic rain jackets are fairly useless things unless you’re only briefly exposed to rain. The only reason I have kept the jacket is for a wind shell over warm layers. If I didn’t sweat so much, maybe they’d be more useful.
Totaranui
Once arriving to Totaranui, I made the call to finish the Abel Tasman Coast Track early – there was only 12km left and I’d seen the best parts anyway. From here I booked a $46 water taxi + Shuttle back to my car.
Overall, it was a beautiful walk, probably more appreciated in a group as a more social thing. It doesn’t really offer any challenges aside from the tidal crossing timing. Kayaking it would be good, although I’ve heard that is very challenging in itself due to the distance and conditions of the sea. I’ll be back one day to finish it off!
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