Saturday 21 January Abel Tasman National Park

Wainui bay

Anapai bay, Michael, David, Jacqui

David climbing again

Mutton bay

Black oyster catcher

The Abel Tasman national park is a legend in NZ. The smallest of all the parks and the most popular with an average 20,000 visitors per annum who come to camp and tramp the 51km coastal path. Walking is the reason we're here. However this year things are different. Before Christmas a series of torrential downpours washed out roads all along the Tasman Bay from Nelson to the park in the west. Roads into the city of Nelson were quickly reopened. The roads leading into the park won't be cleared for at least another 6 months so the only access is by boat; a ferry or private boat. This year visitor numbers are down 90%. Not good for park revenues but excellent for us.

The beach surrounding the bay where we're anchored would normally be packed with families on their annual holiday, up to 1000 bodies. Today there are less than 150. We went for a long walk inland up to Gibbs Hill and then joining up with the coastal path to return to Toturanui and saw very few other people. There are large swages of bare sand left by land slips, the path washed away in places and everywhere the streams clogged with fallen trees and tons of sand which has washed down. The reason would be soft sandy soil over hard granite – adds days of heavy rain and whoosh!

Pied shag or commorant

Can anyone identify this bird?

On the brighter side we enjoyed one of the great walks of NZ through perfect woods, glades of enchanting perfumes, birds everywhere and fantastic views out to Farewell Spit and back towards Nelson. In 6 hours we walked 11½ miles / 18km including a break to eat our lunch and frequent stops to admire the views.
We came to south island to enjoy the walking (Brit English), or hiking (American English) or tramping (Kiwi English) and we are enjoying it. Back on the boat and looking forward to our next foray (subject to under used muscles recovering).