Abel Tasman National Park

That I start with the letter A is just a coincidence. It is more that I particularly like this part of New Zealand. When John-Paul and I were still dating, he showed me a video of his trip to New Zealand in 1997. He went together with a friend ( Henk) and they walked a part of the Abel Tasman walking track. I knew directly that I wanted to see these beautiful beaches. So when we planned our holiday, the Abel Tasman track was one of our main goals.

You can visit this Park in different ways. Most famous is the 4 day walking trip. Starting either in Marahau or Totaranui. But day hikes are also a possibility and kayaking is getting real popular. We had the intention of doing the whole track. If you like to plan this you start at:
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/001~National-Parks/Abel-Tasman-National-Park/index.asp
We planned the date, we checked the tides, booked the cabins and arranged a water taxi for the pick up.
We did a good job with the planning but we did not have the right experience so it all ended different than we expected, but we really enjoyed the spectacular views of the white beaches and clear blue seas.
But because I want to share our experiences with you and I like to give you some advise, here our story of the Abel Tasman walk.
We stayed a night in a cabin at the Marahau camping. Because we had to start early in the morning we repacked all our stuff and we packed our day packs for the trip. We hired some cooking gear, bought easy to cook noodles and cup a soup. We parked the car at a secure car park at another camping and we were ready to go. We planned to walk to Bark Bay Hut. Actually this is the second hut, but because of the time, we had decided to walk the track in three days instead of four. Looking back I think this was a wrong decision. From Marahau to Bark Bay Hut is 20 Kilometer and the travel guides and the website say that you can walk it in 7 hours. The first hut is Anchorage Hut and this is 4 hours. Normally you would say: " 7 hours, piece of cake!!", but with a burden on your back, it is not so easy. So it took us around 9 hours, including lunch break, to get to Bark Bay hut and to be honest, we were broken. And than, of course we knew that the hut was not a 5 star hotel, but when we saw the bunk bed of 7 mattress next to each other, we know that maybe we were a bit to old for this kind of fun. Now we can laugh about it because we know what we have done wrong.
The scenery along the walk was GREAT and you definitely have to walk the track if you have the chance, but do in in four days, or like a lot a people do, take a water taxi and walk a part of the track and go back to your hotel.
So we decided to take a water taxi back to Marahau and not to continue our hike, but because the nature is so absolutely magnificent we already have been back and walked the part from Totaranui to Awaroa. The next time we will go to Abel Tasman NP, we will take a water taxi to Bark bay and walk to Awaroa. So we will certainly complete the whole track.
Not only do we like the Abel Tasman NP but we also Takaka has a special place in our harts. Takaka is a small village close to the Totaranui entrance of the Abel Tasman NP. Takaka is not only one of the Gateways to the NP but also a great start point for trips to the Farewell Spit and other interesting points at the far North of the South Island. In Takaka we stayed at the Golden Bay Motel. Not a modern place to stay but clean and the owners are very friendly.
We did not go out for diner in Takaka, because I prepared tea myself, so no information on this subject. Let me know if you like more information about the Abel Tasman NP and Takaka.