24th May - 29th May Abel Tasman Inland and Coastal Trek

Day 1: Marahau 0m to Castle Rocks Hut, 720m -11.5km (5 hours)
Day 2: Castle Rocks Hut to Awapoto Hut, 600m - 13km (5.5 hours)
Day 3: Awapoto Hut to Whariwharangi Hut, 0m - 14km (5 hours)
Day 4: Whariwharangi to Awaroa Hut, 0m - 13km (8 hours)
Day 5: Awaroa Hut to Bark Bay, 0m - 11.5km (4 hours)
Day 6: Bark Bay Hut to Marahau and Motueka - 21km (5 hours)

Total distance walked: 84km (52 miles)

There was no rush to set off early in the morning as it was going to be a relatively short walk to the first hut, as don't have anything to do once you're there.

We drove to the DoC carpark at Marahau where we were going to leave it for the next 6 days. We were a little apprehensive leaving the campervan in a carpark for so long, but we didn't really have much choice, and the lady at the DoC office said that it would be OK.

We set off around 11:30am and it was a fine sunny day, although pretty cold in the shade. The track followed the coast for our half an hour to Tineline Bay Campsite before climbing steeply. The campsite was completely empty, but looked like it would be very crowded in summer, as the place was really picturesque.

It was a long hard slog of 2 hours up to our lunch stop at Holyoke's shelter. There was another guy there having lunch. He'd walked up a different way, but only doing a day walk, so was on his way back down.

After the Holyoake clearing, the forest became more dense and the track became less obvious, you no longer had a view of the sea or the coast. One of the friendly Fan-tails came to see us, and Carl thought he heard a pig. According to the guy from shop where we hired our stove, there are many wild boars in the woods and it's a favourite place for pig hunters.

We arrived at Castle Rocks around 4:30 and it was a bit of a rush to get everything sorted before the sun went down, i.e. find your torch, and go to the loo. The first thing we did was start the fire. When the sun sets, the temperature drops dramatically and there's no electricity or hot water in the hut.

The sun went down around 5pm so we lit a few tea lights that we had brought with us. We realised by this time that there would be no one else coming to the hut, as it would be very difficult finding your way through the woods in the dark, even with a torch.

It was really nice to know that we were to have the whole hut to ourselves, so we really made ourselves at home. We pulled up the bench close to the stove and huddled around the fire. We draped our damp clothes over the stove to dry out, and then made our even meal by heating some water. It was freeze dried packet food, the first of six days.

After dinner, Vik and Carl went outside and sat on the veranda to look at the sky, we were in the middle of nowhere so there was no light pollution and you could see the Milky Way at its best. We'd never seen such a big night sky. We couldn't stay out long as it was starting to get icy.

That evening wrapped up in our sleeping bags, we heard the calls of the Kiwis, and the snorts of the pigs, but also we heard scurrying on the outside veranda, which could have been possums.

The ground was covered with frost in the morning when we woke up. We ate a quick breakfast of tracker bars and porridge before clearing the hut and sweeping up. DoC huts should always be left as you found them, so we chopped some more firewood for the next person. We headed on our way around 10:30am.

The track became very 'rooty' with all the dense trees which made it difficult to walk on without slipping. The track went up and down continuously and some places didn't even seem like a track, it was that overgrown.

We arrived at Porters Rocks around 12:40, where we were to have lunch. It was the first time that day that we could see where we were in relation to the coast. We could also see where we had come from and it looked miles away.

We eventually arrived at the second hut, Awapoto around 16:10 after quite a gruelling trek. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones to arrived, only around 15 minutes later, a really young American couple arrived from the opposite direction.

We spent the evening around the fire and reading. The young couple went to bed early (around 7:30), and we were actually tired enough to go to bed early too as we needed to get up earlier the next day to make sure we get to the next hut before sunset.

We woke around 7:30 and it was pretty cold in the hut, but we quickly got dressed (in our bags), cleaned up and chopped some more wood before leaving.

Most of the morning was spent going down hill which was pretty hard on your knees, although there were many unnecessary up hills amongst the many down hills, but we eventually lost height as we headed towards the coast.

We had lunch again at a shelter between Awapoto Hut and Wharwharangi Hut around 11:45, this consisted of a tin of flavoured tuna, tracker bar and cheese. After lunch we eventually came across a gravel road, which seemed really strange because it felt like quite a while since we'd seen one even though it had only been 3 days. From Pigeon Saddle we had a better view of our situation as the forest turned into fields as we headed down.

We arrived at Wharwharangi Hut early, around 2:15. The hut itself was an old homestead for the Hancock family. It fell into disrepair before the DoC took it over in the 1970's and returned it to its former glory as it is today.

This Hut was the start of the Coast Trek (and the end of the trek for most people), and there were a few people already settled in. It was good to find a room with only two beds, so we were able to have the room to ourselves.

The rest of the day was spent looking at the nearby beach, then taking a 2 hour return walk to Separation beach where we watched a Sea Lions playing in the water. The sun was setting on our return, and it was so dark that we used the light from a mobile phone to guide us to the hut.

The hut was filled with around 5 people huddled around the fire. There was an American couple singing and playing the guitar, so we ate our freeze dried evening meal listening to some folk songs around the fire.

We got up late and hung around the hut as our walk ahead was dependent on the tide. The only way to get to our next hut, Awaroa Hut, was to cross a tidal estuary. This can only be done within 2 hours before and after low tide, and as the low tide wasn't until 20:12, we plenty of time to get there.

It was a beautiful sunny day as we passed cove after cove of golden sand and turquoise sea. We stopped for lunch at a large campsite at Totaranui, after crossing a large estuary. From here we came to Goat bay where we saw a pod of dolphins. It was really amazing to see these Dusky dolphins, as they are known to be really playful and acrobatic, we weren't disappointed. They continuously leaped out of the water giving us a fantastic display. What was also amazing was that we were the only ones to witness it.

We ran down to the waters edge where the dolphins were diving about really close to the beach. It was amazing that they were so shallow. Vik tried to attract them by getting in the freezing water, but they didn't come any closer. They entertained us for a least an hour, before we decided that we should get going.

It was still too early when we reached the Awaroa estuary, the water was still high at 5pm to cross. It was really frustrating that we could see the hut in the distance on the other side, so it was just a matter of waiting. We boiled some water and had a cup of tea, read, and just hug around. The sun was setting and the temperature dropped, we really could wait any longer so we started to cross at 6pm.

The water was still too deep to cross at 6pm but it was getting really dark and we could barely see the other side. We could only see a single candle light coming from the window of the hut. In the end we had to take our boots and socks off and paddle across, it was now freezing, and we were getting a bit worried.

Finally we arrived at the hut in the pitch black of night. There were a few people up and about, but a lot had already gone to bed. Luckily the fire was on and it was really nice to get changed and warm up before eating our food. It was still pretty early when we went to bed.

In the morning we chatted to a few British people who were heading in the other direction as we had our breakfast. Vik dressed Carl's wounded foot that he cut on the shells the previous night and headed off around 8:45am to Bark Bay.

The tide was at low tide and you could properly see the estuary that we walked across the night before. Again, we had another tidal crossing to do at Onetahuti Bay which was low, before heading down to Bark Bay.

We arrived at Bark Bay really early at 12:30pm so we had lunch on a picnic table in the sun talking to an Irish girl before going for a walk to the beach. We spent most of the afternoon sun bathing on the rocks by the waters edge.

That evening we lent two English lads our stove and mess tins as they hadn't brought anything to prepare there food with. In return they gave us an orange, which was sensational after not eating any fresh food for 5 days! That evening we went with the lads to the beach in search of Kiwis, as Kiwis tend to go to the beach at night. Unfortunately we didn't find any, so we went back to the hut and played cards for a while before going off to bed.

It had been the warmest night of our walk as the heater was gas and therefore didn't go out in the night, although, it hadn't been the quietest. There were at least 2 people snoring in our bunk room!

As the last day was going to be our longest, 21km, we got up pretty early and set off around 8:30am. It was another sunny day, but there were a few clouds, but the sea was still as calm as a lake.

The walked hugged the cliff edge as we made our way along the coast. In fact, it got a bit repetitive as we went inland, out, inland, out. Eventually we came to a suspension bridge which was cool to see.

We arrived at Anchorage, a small fishing town, and crossed another large estuary before stopping at Yellow Point for lunch. Vik didn't have much food left by then. She ate a fruit bar and some chocolate before heading off again.

Amazingly we arrived back at Marahau at around 13:45, which surprised us both. What surprised us more, was that our campervan was perfectly fine.

We drove back to the campsite in Motueka, dropped the stove off, got some sarnies, then jumped into the hot spa, which was fantastic. It the first time we'd been in water for 6 days and it felt like it. Total bliss!

We had a shower, relaxed, then went to an Indian restaurant that evening - very tasty!