Travel Story «Abel Tasman National Park»

New Zealand | 0 Comments 25 March 2006 - Last Update 05 May 2006

Hello from New Zealand!

We are back in Christchurch (again :-)) after having spent 1,5 weeks in the Top of the North, Nelson, Marahau and Abel Tasman national Park.
We flew from Christchurch to Nelson (45 min), on a very cheap flight as we couldn't afford the bus (read: the bus was more expensive than the flight, welcome to NZ).
Nelson is a great place. Has anyone been in the Californian San Luis Obispo (smack between LA and Sfrancisco), wel this is like a brothercity of San Luis: laid back, sunny, hilly, beaches and of course Star Bucks.
We enjoyed Nelson and we stayed the first night in the Backpackers Trampers Rest, a great place, a cosy hostel with only a few beds and we met very nice people. After our Nelson intro we went onwards by slow K-bus to Marahau, the last stop before entering the wonderful Abel Tasman national Park. To tell you more about this area, this is the place (Golden Bay) where the Dutch Abel Tasman discovered New Zealand, the first European to arrive here in 1640. He never claimed the land as some of his crew were killed by Maori people he sailed back to "Van Diemensland (aka Australia)". Tasman went back and left only the name: Nieuw Zeeland (Lit: New Sealand).
We started tramping on the 18th of March in this lovely green park with gold sand beaches and cristal clear waters. The park is managed by the Conservation Dept meaning there are very few facilities, we had to carry all food around, but as we are smart trampers, we asked the watertaxi guys to take care of our gear, so they did. We tramped 3.5 days and walked 32,5 K in the park, this is more than the average tramper. We finished in Awaroa and from there we went back to Marahau (where the walk began) by watertaxi. The park is full of wildlife, and if you like seabirds, Abel Tasman NP is the way to go!
One evening we tried to take a picture of a possum, but after few attempts we gave up as these mammals climb high up the tree to eat their leafs. 
We actually intended to stay 5 days in the park, but I'm telling you, despite the turquoise waters, gold sand beaches and places you've only seen in movies.. There is one thing people forget about this area: Sandflies! Tiny little blackflies, and when they bite, you'll start loving them. We got quite some of these nasty bites, they are all over the places, even at night. Bring excess repellent, but this is not a guarantee...
We thougth these little insects only fly in Milford...
After our tramp, we went back to lovely Nelson, and stayed for another two nights in Trampers rest, did some shopping, people watching and above all, yesterday, we did the "Centre of New Zealand walk", Nelson claims to be the geographic centre of New Zealand.

Today (Sunday) we are back in Christchurch, yesterday we flew back from Nelson, and we stayed at our friends place in Avonhead. This morning we picked up our car again to continue our journey that the next coming days will bring us to the Hanmer Springs and Kaikoura.
the 29th is another important day as we will cross the Cook Strait to sail from the South Island to the North Island with first stop in New Zealand's walking capital: Wellington.

More inside stories once we disembark the Interislander in Wellington.
We've added NEW pictures, see next page of pictures.
Hope you're all fine, enjoy your Sunday morning breakfast!
Kurt and Nicole from Cathedral Square in Christchurch.