The New Zealand Adventure Part 2: Marlborough to Abel Tasman

Our 4th day in New Zealand turned out to be a big one.

Just as we were getting tucked into our van the night before, it started POURING. It sounded like fists-pounding-down-our-roof pouring. We were planning on a hike that morning, so when we got up and saw that it was not raining, we figured we better hit the trail as soon as possible to get in what we could before it started raining again. We got to the trailhead early -- well, early for us anyways. We needn’t have worried. The clouds slowly cleared, and the morning just got prettier and prettier.

The Queen Charlotte Track is a lovely coastal forest track. The whole thing will take you four to five days. We only had time for sampler – two hours total, out to the first campground and back. It was a pretty easy tramp up to beautiful rocky cove with beautiful views of mountains surrounding the sound.

Marlborough Sound and the Queen Charlotte Track

After our tramp, it was time to move on to our next stop – Abel Tasman National Park. On our way there, we stopped in Nelson for lunch. We found a fish and chips shop on a pier. It was a gorgeous day and the fish and chips came wrapped up in paper that the grease just started to seep through. Pretty magnificent! The seagulls were very jealous.

We got into Marahau, just outside the national park, a little before three. Abel Tasman is at the northwest tip of the South Island and has some of the warmest and sunniest weather on the island. We were hoping to do some kayaking, but by three the tour options were kind of limited – well, there was really only one. The tour office we stopped in at had one more boat going out to do a pick up. They were willing to take us out into the park on that run and drop us off, but we’d have to tramp back on our own – five hours. It was a beautiful day and we did not want to waste it, so what could we do? We took it.

Marahau has really dramatic tides, so during low tides, the boats have to be dragged out to the water on a tractor –it made for an interesting ride.

The ride out on the water was fun too.

The boat dropped us off in Anchorage Bay, which is about a third of the way through the park and has a lovely little beach where people were swimming and playing. If it had been earlier in the day, I might have been tempted. Like at Queen Charlotte, you can do a multi-day tramp through the park and there are several huts run by the Department of Conservation where campers can stay as they make their way through. For those wanting to stay in the park overnight without having to lug around camping gear, there is a floating hostel in Anchorage Bay – which sounds awesome. Had I known I might have tried to plan for a night there – however, I think you have to book well in advance.

Our tramp through the park started with a climb up a hill, right off the bat, but that yielded nearly immediate rewards in the form of jaw dropping views.

After that initial upward hike, it was actually a pretty easy, steady walk winding through rainforests and temperate forests. The amount of variety was pretty amazing.

We were told the hike would take about 5 hours. About half way through we decided to make a game out of beating the time. We ended up shaving 30 min off of the projected time –4.5 hours total. Not bad considering how often we stopped to take pictures and admire the scenery.

The section of the park we conquered.

We eventually emerged onto the road along the bay we’d had to cross via tractor earlier that afternoon – only now it was filled in with water. Big difference!

Afternoon


Sunset

After hiking all afternoon, we were predictably famished. Luckily, just beyond the entrance to the park, there is an extremely well positioned burger stand – The Fat Tui. And what a burger stand it is! Everything is super fresh and a lot of ingredients are local and they offer organic, fair trade coffee. They serve fish ‘n chips, hot dogs, and a long list of burger creations.

We both opted for a behemoth call the “The Muss.” The patty is made from coarsely chopped mussels that are fried and served on a giant seeded bun with cheese, avocado, sweet chilli sauce, homemade tartar sauce, and then an entire salad is piled on top to finish it off. I still dream about this burger!

Abel Tasman is one of the spots we would have loved to spend more time in, but after our filling up on the delicious Muss burger we had to get a move on, to cover some ground by driving late into the night.

Nelson and Abel Tasman

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