Monday, 4 June 2012

Last Days on South Island


From Mt Aspiring NP the road took us over Haast Pass into West Coast. We stopped at various falls, beaches, and other tiny not as interesting points. But what we enjoyed was Jacksons Bay. It is one of the most southern point on West Coast and has a very moving early settlers' story with ruined big hopes as it was often in remote areas like this. West Coast also welcomed us with rain, so typical for 'Wet Coast':-). As we did see most of it during our Xmas trip we flew through just with few stops in order to reach Christchurch for our friends' wedding party.

After unnecessary and some necessary shopping spree, and of course a bit of hangover relaxation :-) we headed back towards Arthurs Pass. We had planned to climb up Avalanche Peak and then spend a night in Crow Hut, but rain that was falling in West Coast was a snow fall in Arthurs Pass. So because of safety reasons we chose alternative, track to Mt Bealey. Similar altitude as Avalanche peak but with ridge covered in sunshine in the end gave us one of the best days in NZ. The views were amazing. Peaks were covered in snow and I even left an angel on snow covered ridge at 1700m. Because of daylight and unmarked route we had to turn around before we reached top of Mt Bealey but it was just 100m below and we still walked at least half of its ridge. And most importantly we had a great time!



After a short visit to Devils Punchbowl Falls and some geocashing we left Arthurs Pass and drove back to West Coast. There we quickly stopped at Greymouth. From there it a short distance to Punakaiki Pancake Rocks that were many times recommended to us. Unfortunately, we arrived after high tide so we did not see water being pushed through blowholes, but the rocks looked really like typical English pancake breakfast. Just maple sirup was missing:-).


But the main thing that we still had planned on South Island was Abel Tasman National Park. To be honest the organisation of the trip was a bit of headache for me. Without internet to properly research I was lost in decision making. So in the end, we headed to i-site and got a great deal. The plan was to hire a sea-kayak and paddle to Anchorage Hut. the worry was that they will not let us use the kayaks on our own as we did not have any sea experience. But after short training on the ground and 2 minutes on the sea the guide let us paddle our way, just warning us to watch the time as we needed to return the kayak at 3:30pm which was just 4 hours away.  

From Czech we have canoe experience but kayak is a bit different, especially the sea one. It has a steering so the back one could paddle same as the one in front. Like this you can travel quicker and it is also easier to deal with se waves. We were lucky and even the last part where wind are often unpredictable was calm and we could enjoy views. We paddle along Adele Island, a natural reserve, which we could hear from far away due to loud bird singing. We have also had a chance to see seals swimming and relaxing on the shores. Then we crossed back to land and found our perfect deserted beach. After lunch we headed across the open sea to Torrent Bay and our goal, Anchorage Hut. After kayak retrieval and relaxing tea at the hut we decided to do some geocashing. Abel Tasman Track is one of the great walks, and very famous one, so there are cashes all around the track. We have found quite a few of them. But the biggest treasure was our first 'FTF-First-to-find' cashe.
The following day, this time on our own feet, we walked to Onetahuti Beach where the water taxi should have picked us up at 3pm. That was quite early for us, especially that we normally start late and walk until late afternoon. Also I have planned more than a day walk so we had to walk fast. The track is relatively flat, but we could not use low tide routes (Abel Tasman has the biggest differences between low and high tide-up to 4m!) and thus prolong our trip by 5km. But all was good, beaches and views were amazing, so reached Onetahuti on time. Because of low tide, our water taxi had to be lifted by tractor to be transported back to about 300m distant shore.

But we certainly didn't have enough of those beautiful beaches so the next day we walked the most northern part of the great walk and taking inland route to make it circular route. On the way we visited historic Whariwharangi Hut that was back in perfect order after December floods. The signs of floods were everywhere, mainly landslides, damaged or completely closed roads and sandy mud everywhere. But that was long time ago so we could enjoy our track with big smile on our faces, certainly on mine:-). Abel Tasman was everything that people say about it. We didn't have the chance to swim, but because of winter there were less people what made this touristy spot bearable.


On South Island we still had to make at least two stops-Farewell Spit and Malborough Sounds. Farewell Spit is 27km long sandy beach, renowned as a bird sanctuary but also as whale stranding place. Even in front of visitor centre they have skeleton of baby whale and inside various pictures and press comments.
On the way to Nelson we also stopped at Pupu Springs-the clearest water springs in the world that pumps out overwhelming 14,000 liters per second.We also had to make stops in our favourite European bakery in Motueka and stay overnight at $6 Maitai camp.

Between Nelson and Picton there is a large area that is filled with small inlets, islands, bays and beaches, which on the map looks like a maze. Malborough Sounds are really interesting place, but very difficult to ride through as even though sounds are not long their shorelines are (Pelorous Sound is 42km long, but has 379km shoreline). We stayed two days, stopping at bays and walking part of various tracks, but the weather wasn't great so we slowly headed to Picton while picking up more cashes along the way.

For our last night on South Island (and my birthday:-)) we chose free DOC camp in Robin Hood Bay. This secluded bay was just perfect. Moon was lighting the beach and high tide was moving with rocks up and down the beach making loud noises. And in the morning we could only say goodbye to amazing South Island and wait what North Island will bring to us.

More pictures can be seen here.




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