Awaroa to Torrent Bay

A full days walk ahead of us
A nicely evenly paced walk with Pippi allowing Jack and I to walk ahead of the group at times.
Left at 9 am to enjoy a morning walking through native forest across a headland with magnificent coastal views then along the golden sands of Onetahuti Beach. We had morning tea here at the campground where we looked out to Tonga Island.
We continued on to explore the historic sites and picturesque golden cove of Tonga Quarry beach. From Tonga Quarry, we walked over a forested saddle and around the Waterfall Trail to Bark Bay. There were many kayakers along this section of marine reserve taking advantage of the calm morning weather conditions.  Maybe another trip.....
We lunched at Bark Bay which had another beautiful stretch of golden sandy beach.
The afternoon walk passed many inlets and small deserted bays, so much exploring on offer, but too little time.....truly beautiful coastline.



From Bark Bay the coastal track winds through shady gullies of mature Beech forest, fern grottos and sunny groves of Manuka framing coastal vistas. A suspension bridge across Falls River provided balancing practice, and after passing the 18 km post, we reached the lookout of Torrent Bay.
Around 4.30 pm, we arrived at Torrent Bay Lodge, right on the beachfront.  This was the Wilson family’s holiday home, now tastefully extended and renovated for use by guided kayakers and walkers.Our group of four were the only guests at the lodge for the first night. We were allocated the two front rooms with the bayside views.
Beautiful place to be spending our wedding anniversary



Awaroa

Clear blue skies and a soft breeze as we greeted the morn.
The itinerary stated a rest day with optional activities.
Pippi offered a morning walk up along the Estuary to take advantage of the low tide. We all decided to take up this option.
It was an easy 2.5 hour return walk. We walked along the estuary flats stopping to check out the DOC hut along the way. The backpackers were making plans to start their crossing across the estuary, having a 2 hour window period either side of low tide.  Up in the foothills, there were remnants of the old Awaroa schoolhouse. There were no interpretative signs, but Pippi read from a book about the building and it's construction.
Back in time for lunch.



There was another optional walk offered for the afternoon, but we decided to have some beach time. We walked along the beachfront of Awaroa Bay for an hour. There was a change brewing, with a cool breeze chopping up the water. But not to be deterred, I donned the bathers and had a short brisk swim. The afternoon breezes did abate later, just in time for a magical sunset with the calm waters of the estuary providing a gorgeous backdrop.



Ready, Willing and Abel

This morning we drove from St Arnaud to Nelson to commence the Abel Tasman Coast Great Walk
This was a treat to ourselves at the end of our South Island odyssey. We has planned to do one of the Great Walks backpacking and the other in style. And as we always like to relax by the coast on holidays, this ticked all the boxes. We booked onto a 5 day guided walk and arranged for a pickup from the airport so we could return the rental car.
It was fortunate that another couple had booked on in the last 4 weeks as the walk looked like being cancelled. It was one of the last guided walks for the season, with March being unseasonably quiet and slow for the tour company. That was the silver lining for us though as we had a small group and most of the track to ourselves.
At the airport pickup, we met the other couple and headed to the office in Motueka. There we left our excess luggage, packed our duffle bags and met our guide, Pippi. We then drove to Kaiteriteri, a 20 min drive to catch the ferry, lunched on the beach discovering the beauitful golden sands of this coastline, followed by a ferry ride out to the start of the track.



The ferry stopped several times to drop off and pick up travellers that were doing day walks along the track. We also went past Tonga Island which has a seal colony and were lucky to see a few adult seals and pups frolicking in the shallows and sunning themselves on the rocks.
We stopped at Awaroa Bay where one of the lodge staff had driven a quad bike out to one of the beaches to collect our duffle bags. The last ferry stop on the outward bound journey was Totaranui, which is not the official start/finish of the Great Walk, but is as far as the ferry can safely travel avoiding the strong winds and ocean currents further west of this point.
We disembarked here with our day packs ready to tackle the first section of the Track. While having a photo at one of the track signs, I found a well-worn wooden stick, which I picked up and decided to use as a walking pole for the entire trail.
It is only a 3 hour, 6km hike from here back to Awaroa Bay. Apart from a few 100-200m ups and downs, the track is fairly flat along the section.
Pippi was a knowledgeable guide able to point out all of the local fauna and flora. She was a local girl brought up in Kaiteriteri and this park has literally been her childhood backyard.
Very passionate.
From Totaranui, we walked through mature beech and rata forests, and along secluded golden beaches to the breathtaking expanse of the Awaroa inlet.
To reach our accommodation, we needed a boat crossing across the estuary at Awaroa River. Another guide met us with a boat and 15 mins later we docked at Awaroa Bay. There is a small settlement of houses here, with a Peppers Resort tucked away in the bush at one end and Meadowbank Homestead at the other. We were greeted by the cooks and hosts followed by happy hour.
Meadowbank is owned by the Wilson family who are descendants of some of the first European settlers in the 1850's. Meadowbank Homestead provides accommodation for walkers and kayakers on their guided excursions. Awaroa is a faithful re-creation of the Wilson family's original home
It overlooks the estuary inlet and you can sit and watch the tidal changes from the verandah. A beautiful tranquil location.



Dinner was a gastronomic feast and the evening drifted away chatting to other guests.

Nelson Lakes - St Arnaud Range Track

Another day, another ridge top!
Today the plan was to tackle the St Arnaud Range Track, the other major day hike from St Arnaud.
We were keen to tackle this track to get a different perspective of the area, this time from the eastern side of Lake Rotoiti. We alerted the DOC staff of our intentions as this hike is not as popular as the Mt Robert Circuit.
From the Kerr Bay campsite, it is a slow but steady ascent through more beautiful beech forest.





Negotiating this track was more difficult than yesterday, owing to the large tree roots so caution was exercised. The climb is relentless with no designated lookout viewpoints due to the dense forest, however this did provide sun and wind protection. After an hour we stopped for a rest and drink and then continued our plod. The canopy started to thin so we knew we were approaching the exposed eastern slopes of the range and after another 45 mins we reached Parachute Rocks. Out of the sheltered forest, the wind was strong and cool. We had a brief stop to take in the views, but the summit beckoned.



The track up was barely visible with snow poles and markers in place to assist with navigating the trail. It took 20 mins to climb up the very steep path and upon the reaching the ridge top were almost blown off! We summited and realised we had climbed 1000m!
There was a faint path along the ridge top both to the north and south of the summit but unlike yesterday, the winds were so strong, it was too cold and dangerous to follow. We sheltered down on the lee side which was almost dead calm and had lunch. The vista of rugged landscape alpine peaks and glaciated valleys was spectacular, though personally I did prefer the views from yesterdays ridge top hike.



We savoured the views for about 30 mins and then headed back down. It was a careful descent on my part, making sure of my footing as it was prime ankle twisting territory. Added to this, I was conscious that we had done some serious climbing and descending over the last 2 days and didn't want to risk any chance of injury.
From the awe-inspiring Southern Alps, we now head to the coast!
But I'll be back.....

Nelson Lakes - Mt Robert Circuit

Lazy morning before setting out on a day hike.
Today's plan: Mt Robert Circuit.
We drove up to the trail head approx 5kms from the town.
We opted for the anti-clockwise route which turned out to be a good choice.
The first 30 mins of the walk is through beautiful beech forest. the track becoming very steep very quickly, It is aptly named the Pinchgut Track! It zig-zagged up Mt Robert but with several flat lookout areas to use for rest stops. Stunning views of the horseshoe shaped lake. We reached Mt Robert (1421m) in just under an hour - a 600m ascent!





The vista of mountains and ridge tops was magnificent and knowing we had the time, we decided to hike on up the Robert Ridge track towards Lake Angelus. We aimed to get to Julius Summit.

Fantastic walk along the ridge top, slippery scree slopes either side of the track with sparse alpine vegetation and numerous tarns. Fresh and cool winds, but sunny.We managed to get to Julius Summit (1794m) in just under an hour. I could have walked along that ridge for hours! This hike made me realise how beautiful this area is and why so many people rave about the magnificent hiking there is in these parts. Definitely coming back to do some multi-day hiking here! We wished we had started earlier in the day as we probably would have been able to make it to Lake Angelus and back, but we were not prepared to go on any further with limited food and water supplies.



We retraced the path back to the track junction and continued the planned loop circuit, taking Paddy's Track around to Bushline Hut where we stopped for a snack. The track from the Hut back to the car was a long steep descent.
Along the way, we encountered a couple of ladies who were finishing a 5 day hike, one day earlier than planned, so we gave them a lift back into St Arnaud.

farewell to the west coast

Travelling day today. Pretty average weather, so a perfect day for sightseeing from the comfort of the car.
Passed through Franz Josef and caught glimpses of the glacier
Rest stop at Hokitika to browse through  a glass studio and purchase another bird ornament to add to my collection.
Petrol stop at Greymouth and then headed inland. Afternoon tea at Murchison and arrived at St Arnaud, our base for the next three nights in the Nelson Lakes area.
Lake Rotoiti was a 5 min walk from our cabin accommodation. We strolled down and explored the foreshore with it's 2 jetties, a family of eels (is there a collective noun for eels?) swimming below one. Plenty of hiking to be done in this region. We made tentative plans to do a couple of day walks over the next 2 days - weather and Jack's back permitting.

Picture perfect!



Fox on the Run!

Looking forward to another day on the glacier - today we had booked onto a 6 hour hike ....and the weather looked fabulous as the morning dawned.
We arrived at the office to find that we had accidentally booked onto the walk a month earlier than we planned. The office, to their credit, did their best to try and accommodate us, but all trips were fully booked except the2 hour terminal face glacier hike that afternoon.
We accepted that booking and thought that exploring the glacier from the terminal face would be an alternative perspective.
So........we joined a busload of 35 others for the 2 hour hike.
It was an interesting 45 minute walk up the valley to the terminal face, looking at how far the glacier has advanced and retreated over the past 30 years, with global warming and El Nino /La Nina weather patterns providing topical discussion and debate for the reasons for and against.
Again we chose the better of the two guides on offer today, a French-Canadian girl who took the time to take photos for all of the group.
We spent a total of 2 hours on the glacier but much of this was spent waiting for people to have photos taken or regrouping with several very slow participants. It was a little disappointing, but still leaves us with another opportunity to return another time with some unfinished business.....