Abel Tasman National Park

Abel Tasman National Park is situated in the north western part of the South Island. It is mainly known for its nice beaches, rugged coast line and seal colonies. There is a Great Walk along the coast in the park but this time we decided to go the water way with kayaks instead of on the trail. This was also a way of escaping the crowds on the trail and in the huts. The huts were anyway fully booked so camping was our only option.

We rented a double kayak for three days in Marahau just where the trail starts. We filled it with camping gear, lots of nice food, snacks and wine. Since you do not have to carry anything you can bring things you normally would not carry on a hike. First I thought that everything would not fit but there were lots of space so no worries.

We had booked two camps on the way with some distance that was recommended in brochures and they were going to pick us up at the end of day three so we would not have to go back the same way. The real distance was not really obvious and turned out to be not very much at all. This meant we had lots of time to discover small secluded beach that were only reached by boat, small islands and seal colonies. This was the real treat since the beaches that had huts, toilets and trails were very busy. We stopped on these beaches too to use the facilities but otherwise we tried to get out of others way.

The weather was fine the first day although the storm the day before were still causing some swells and choppy waters along the coast. The second two days were fantastic with clear blue skies and basically no wind. We could not have asked for better conditions.

The tides were very obvious in the area and the second morning we had to drag our kayak down to the water line. The night before we had luckily arrived in high tide and could paddle all the way in to the campground. The tides often makes it interesting here also on the hikes sometimes. The sailing boats have to come in on high tide and then they get stuck on low tide and simply have to wait until the water level raises again. Somewhat different from sailing in Stockholm.

Have a look at some more photos:

Abel Tasman National Park