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For only the 4th time in NZ, we had to set an alarm to wake us up today, at 7am! We don't miss early mornings! We hadn't slept great as we could hear the sea right outside the van - tut! We had to be in Marahau at 8:45 ready to catch the 9:00 water taxi, and had been told to allow 45mins to get there from our campsite, so it was an early start for us.
We arrived in Marahau in plenty of time, and, armed with our cool bag full of food and water, plus Dave's day bag full with our books, towel and camera, we waited for the taxi. Just before we boarded the boat, which was in the car park on the back of a tractor(!), we put our life jackets on and then the tractor towed us to the beach and launched us into the sea! The taxi ride was great as the driver doubled as a tour guide, telling us about the park (the smallest but busiest of NZ's National Parks) and the wildlife that lives on the coast.
Just around the edge of Marahau Bay, we stopped to see the 'split apple rock' a famous Abel Tasman landmark. The guide tried to convince us it was a prop left over from the LOTR films and was actually made of Fiberglas…but the LOTR geeks onboard were having none of it! Then it was time to drive us up the coast of the park, which is only accessible by boat, or the walking track. Some people walk the entire track over a few days, camping out in between, but for people like us the water taxi can drop you off and pick you up from different bays along the coast.
Today. We got dropped off at Bark Bay at 10am, and were getting picked up from Torrent Bay at 4pm. The walk should take 2.5-3 hours, giving us plenty of time to stop along the way. As it was a lovely sunny day, we hoped to get to Torrent Bay early to fit in some sunbathing!
After stopping to view some seals and a little blue penguin fishing /diving for food, we got dropped off at Bark Bay and started our walk. After about 1km we took a detour to a lookout point with stunning views over the bay. A little further on, we cam to the sign for sand fly bay (not a very inviting name!) so we walked down the very steep and rocky cliff to the beautiful bay at the bottom. It was a small, secluded little bay with bright blue water - we felt like we were back in Fiji! After a paddle in the water and a snack, we started the daunting task of getting back up the cliff. On the way down, we'd passed some very out of breath people climbing back up so I didn't fancy my chances very much! But we decided to take it really slow (good job noone was behind us!) and were mightily impressed when we reached the top quite easily!
Spurred on by our achievement, we carried on, and decided to wait until we completed the walk before having our lunch, then we could relax in the sun for a few hours. The rest of the walk contained a lot more uphill sections than we would have liked, but we made it in good time.
On the beach at Torrent Bay, we ate our lunch then sat sunbathing, reading our books before our water taxi came to collect us. Back at Marahau, the tractor came to pull us out of the sea and drive us back to the centre. We were both exhausted, but had enjoyed our time in the park.
On the way back to camp, we stopped in Motueka to pick up some well deserved beers and chocolate for later. Then we saw the McDonald's sign and decided to get something to eat there rather than cook our pasta!
Back at the campsite, we relaxed with our beers and chocolate and both went to sleep at around 9pm!
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