NZ Adventures #6: Abel Tasman Love

Earth Date:  Monday, November 19, 2018

Abel Tasman

Abel Tasman is gorgeous.  Stunning.  Magnificent.  Enchanting.  The end.

It's just like the Blue Lagoon.  Well, except for this:

Nah, just kidding.  We were really like this (just like Brooke Shields and Chris Atkins. Isn't the resemblance uncanny?  No need to answer that):

Because Abel Tasman is so great.  By far, one of my most favoritest places (#becausegrammarmatters) we'd discovered in NZ as of day 6.  Hey!  We're still in NEW ZEALAND!

We'd decided to catch an AquaTaxi at Marahua headed to Anchorage Beach for the Pitt's Head Walk. 

It was an early morning to be at Abel Tasman Aquataxi a bit early for a 10:30am departure, and we had an hour drive along The Coastal Highway, which offered lovely views.  There's just not a lot in the way of habitation or commerce along The Coastal Highway... just lovely scenery.  Then, all the sudden we were in Marahau and found AquaTaxi central. 

I'd never heard of such a thing.  I mean, there were no aquataxis when we visited Galveston as kids.  Huh.  

Basically, they put you in a boat loaded on a trailer with about 16 other people.  They pull the boat to the shoreline with a farm tractor and back it up into the water.  You putter along Tasman Bay taking in the loveliness.  Then they back up to the shore of your destination beach, and you jump in and wade through to the beach.  It's fun!

This particular route offered views of the spectacular shoreline down to Split Apple rock, round Adele Island where seals like to gather for socializing, mating and whatnot, and finally to Anchorage Beach.










Split Apple Rock looks much like an... wait for it... apple that's been split in two.  Neat huh?  I prefer cleaved in twain.  Cleaved in Twain Rock.

It's naturally formed granite, dating back about 120 million years.  In Māori, it's Tokangawhā, meaning "burst open rock."  That's neat, too. It would be even more neat if the legends were true that two gods were fighting over the rock and split it in two to share it.  It's more likely that water seeped into a 'joint' in the granite during an ice age, froze, expanded and split that puppy in two.  It's just so perfectly split.  Amazeballs.




Cruising on around Adele Island...

If you look really close, you can see a couple of seals lounging among the rocks.  Tramping around the island is discouraged to keep it safe for the seal breeding colonies.  Privacy, people.

Then we were zooming to Anchorage Beach.  The breeze on the ocean was cool, the sea spray zipping by, while the sun shone warm on our heads.  It was wonderful.  When we arrived, it was shoes and socks off to wade to the beach.

After a foot rinse and dry (with the handy, dandy travel towel I so cleverly packed for just such an occasion) at the Anchorage Hut trek stop, we set off to walk the Pitt's Loop Lookout.

We trekked upwards through manuka forest, which consists of both short scrubby shrubs and tall trees, to an overlook of Te Pukatea Bay.











Plus ferns.  Ferns everywhere -- large and small.  As you can see it's gorgeous.  Overall, it took about 1.5 hours, even for a pokey person like me.

Abel Tasman National Park was named for the first European who visited Aotearoa (or New Zealand), a Dutch gent named... wait for it... Abel Tasman.  He moored a couple of ships in the area in 1642, was ganked by the resident Ngati Tumatakokiri people, and thus sailed along.  Europeans came back around 1855 to settle in, logged the forest and fired the underbrush until the easy pickings were gone and then left.  Seriously.

It became a national park in 1942 to preserve it from logging interests.

This is looking down to Te Pukatea Bay.  Golden, sandy curve of beach + aqua waters.  Like a dream.

We ambled down to the bay for a snack on the beach and more spectacular snaps.

Folks where bringing in kayaks and prepping camps for the day.  Others were using a drone to take pictures.

We spotted a big, black storm behind us, threatening to move our way.  But we lucked out.  It was fun watching it roll slowly across the sky.

Time to head back. And along the way, what should we encounter but the opportunity to practice our (Jayme's) mad lumberjack skillz.  Well, that's an opportunity one should not miss.























And success!  Check to the goal of chopping wood in New Zealnad

Oh hello, Māori man.  I have no idea what his story is.

We're back at Anchorage Beach with an hour to spare.  After talking for a bit with one of the "taxi drivers," he points us west to check out the beach caves.  BEACH CAVES!  How did I miss those when we arrived?!

But first, shell shopping and a selfie.

Come on, it's just so cool.  Water has carved out arches in the rock into natural sculptures covered with shrubby hairdos.

The rocks in this area are formed of limestone and granite, making for interesting formations over time.

You could get lost in here!  Not really -- they were fairly shallow caves.  But I wouldn't want to be caught here on high tide.

Check out the neat shells that attach to the rocks.  They covered most of the rocks rising from the sand.  Both neat and creepy.  Like, I didn't want to touch them creepy.

It's about 2:00pm and time to head back towards the aqua pick-up <-- see what I did there?

That thunderstorm is inching ever closer, so we're grateful to wade into the taxi to make our way back to Marahua.  It's along this route that we learn about the backpackers, as we're sitting in front of a row of youngsters trekking and adventuring their way across the island.  Backpackers account for 11% of New Zealand's holiday arrivals and visitor spend.  That's about 159,000+ visitors annually, and they range between the ages of 18 - 24.  I would have thought there were more than that based on the numbers of them we encountered and the hostels we noted.  I guess small groups seem like a horde when there aren't many folks present in general.

It's neat to hear them meeting each other and making plans.  Most were European, though we did encounter a few Canadians who just graduated from college.  The aquataxi even made a stop at a hostel of sorts on a boat, just hanging out in the bay.  Really, pretty cool -- if you're 20 and in shape.  We are most assuredly neither.  Nope, I'm looking forward to the luxurious cabin we sprung for that night... which is another story... lest you be getting bored.

Punakaiki

Once we're settled back into our trusty Toyota, we head out towards Punakaiki on the West Coast.  We drive through rolling hills, then farming and orchard communities on our way to the Motueka Valley Highway, which follows the Motueka River.  To the left are the foothills of Kahurangi National Park.  To the right, farming communities fill the valley.  We weave through forest and pasture and low mountains.  It's verdant and fresh.  We meet up with State Highway 6 for more of the same.

I'd like to point out that "highway" is a preeeeettty magnanimous term for the roads around most of New Zealand. and especially in South Island.  They are two lane and sometimes, they have one side closed while they fill holes with loose rocks.  Yes Friends, loose rocks.  It's road repair, and it seemed they started about 9am sharp.  Got organized for an hour or so, worked for a bit, then lunch break at noon.  It's soon break at two-sies, and then bam, 4pm folks.  Let's call it a day.  /whew.  I jest, but I don't think I'm too far off in my estimation of work productivity (#sillyAmericanswhoworkallthetime).  Anywho, it's a 4 hour drive to the West Coast, so we get going, though we're not too worried, since it stays light until 9pm -- plenty of time to do and see!

About 3/4 of the way to Punakaiki, we stop at Kilkenny Lookout for a stretch break.  "Highway."  Pfft.  It's a wee span of asphalt bordered by a white picket-ish fence.  Good thing:  there's not many of us on it and it's beautiful everywhere.  So, sarcasm aside -- we love it!

We were going to stop and check out the tourist-expensive Buller Gorge Swing Bridge, but it was 5:00pm, and there's work-life balance in NZ, yo.  So sorry.  It's ok, we still have a couple of hours to go and by the time we hit the coast, Jayme is justifiably tired of driving and the road is wind-y.  And I mean, hang on, 'cuz you're gonna lean out of your seat, I'mtiredit'stimeforustoarrive wind-y.

But it's worth it...

It's love at first site with the West Coast for me.  I would live here... in fact.... [pause for Zillow download].

Come on, let's go!  We are both getting testy and tired.  We're staying in Punakaiki.  It's a literal blip on the map, and the turn in for our cottage reservation a smaller blip.  But success!  It's 8pm and we are grateful for a chance to relax.  But one problem... Ms. Hotel Owner has us down for December 19 & 20, rather than November 19 & 20, and there are no rooms available.  Right.  Wait, what?   I'm dreading the last minute search for a place to sleep, but Ms. Hotel Owner is on it and has us booked in a jiff at the Punakaiki Resort where all the retirees are staying on their bus trip.  You know what, it's all good.  We have beds, a tea maker and bathroom.  We are good.  It's kinda cute, too.  We have to trek to our room, which strangely opens right on the highway.  Our sliding glass door, a stream, some foliage, then the highway.  Yup, sliding glass door on the highway.  NZ is an interesting, interesting place.  The Punakaiki Resort is a 4-star (not really) kinda place.  It's a souped up motel.  But who cares!  It's clean and has beds.  And what's on the other side of the highway?  The beach! The lovely, lovely West Coast beach.  And we're like a 5-minute walk from the pancake rocks, which we'll see tomorrow!  

Just before we settle down to rest, I emailed Ms. Hotel Owner to share our appreciation for getting us settled, and the email she returns is trying to adjust blame.  Yeah, I don't think so.  Lady, just go with it.  We were nice about it, and made no fuss.  Don't know why that bugged me.  

More importantly, tonight we need fortification, and we find it at the one open restaurant in this blip, Punakaiki Tavern.  In burgers, we rejoice.  Go beets!  And they were pretty tasty.  Then we need sleep.  Tomorrow, People, we go underground.