The Abel Tasman could well be the most popular of New Zealand's Great Walks. There are a lot of different ways of walking the track. You can stay in DOC huts, you can carry your tent and camp in the numerous beautiful campsites, you can take a guided walk and stay at two lodges, or you can kayak some of the sections, camping or DOC huts. We decided to do none of these. The track is unique in that you can access it very easily by water taxi. So we decided to book in at Awaroa Lodge for three nights and walk the different sections using a water taxi and returning to the 'luxury accommodation' each night. Our excuse, we fancied a bit of luxury, (ie Jackie fancied a bed she could get out the side of, but alas no bath) and we worked out that doing it that way it would be half the price of the "guided walks". It was a good choice.

We camped at a lovely commercial campsite at Kaiteriteri. You get there from Nelson, a large attractive town we had stayed at on our arrival at the South Island. Nelson has some superb fish restaurants, often in converted fishing sheds. Before Christmas we had stopped there in a storm. This time it was difficult to see how such a sheltered bay could have been such a fierce, storm flecked spot. The Boat Shed excelled with delightful fresh oysters and a superb view.

The road to Keiteriteri heads across flat plains of orchards and horticulture, making the occasional right angle turn around the land sections. It meets long sandy beaches then suddenly the road narrows and eventually winds around a series of steep bluffs to descend into a gorgeous golden bay, Kaiteriteri. The end of the road. You simply walk across the campsite to the beach. Had our first swim (not too bad temperature wise) for ages - most enjoyable.

We took the first water taxi out of Kaiteriteri to Bark Bay, and asked them to take a small bag onto the hotel. The boat took us past a remarkable split rock, beautiful golden beaches and lounging seals to land at the delightful bark Bay. We walked from there to Tonga Quarry where granite used to be quarried for Nelson's buildings. All that remains now are a few granite rocks which formed the quay surrounded by a long golden beach. Had lunch and another (colder) swim here before climbing again through attractive bush to drop down to Awaroa Lodge.



Awarao Lodge is a beautifuly designed hotel set back a little from the beach accessible only by boat or helicopter. The furniture at the lodge is built out of massive pieces of local timber and is quite outstanding The rooms are great, the evening meals are superb. However, there was a feeling that the hotel had no management. Things seemed to work on systems but you had no feeling that anyone was making sure. Our room was not ready when we arrived, late afternoon, and the same thing happened again when we returned at 5pm the next day..

The next day we hired a two person kayak. We had to go out with an instructor as part of a group, and we were glad of this support when the wind came up and the sea got rough.. This was our first go in a proper sea kayak. We were amazed how far we went. We paddled back southwards down the coast till we came to shag harbour. It is a deep hidden inlet with limpid pools and seals lounging. The bay seems to go on and on twisting into deep rocks and cliffs. The calm water contrasted with the quite turbulent sea outside. We had hoped that having battled upwind to the cove we would have the wind behind us for the return journey. We emerged and found that the wind had changed direction so we had to battle back. Altogether very exhilarating. We really enjoyed it, even though we we finished 3 hours later thoroughly exhausted with blistered fingers.

The following day we did the northern part of the track by taking a boat to Separation Point and then walking south back to Awaroa Lodge. You head south with lovely views across the bay eventually arriving at the Awaroa inlet. The lodge is on the other side of a huge estuary. You have to wade across the river, only possible 2 hours either side of low tide and then cross miles of sandbanks. Scattered above the dunes are the occasional house accessible only by boat.

We returned to the lodge where we met an English couple whose son had sailed over to New Zealand at about the same time as us but we had not come across the boat. Breakfast was enlivened by another loud English voice. A tall somewhat eviscerated Surrey lady in her 50sdemanding a reduction if she didn't have toast in her served breakfast. The breakfast was duly delivered at which point she went up to the toaster to make her own.

For our final day we reversed our arrival procedure. We sent our bag back to Kaiteriteri and using an Aqua taxi walked from Bark Bay to Anchorage. This proved to be the most beautiful section of the walk. The long sandy beaches were beautifully lit by the sun, contrasting with the greenness of the surrounding bush. The walk itself gives clear sea views almost all the time. In contrast the Queen Charlotte walk tends to only provide glimpses through the bush

The tide was in so we had to go the long around Torrent Bay, an extra two hours walk. By the time we had got to the other side we could see people fording the river, but it was still pretty deep.

We finally arrived at Anchorage, just in time to pick up an Aqua Taxi back to our campsite.

The Abel Tasman is extremely beautiful but its accessibility means that there are far more people around than on the other great walks. However, it remains a very beautiful piece of coasline.