{"id":8755,"date":"2024-04-04T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/?p=8755"},"modified":"2024-04-10T15:43:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T03:43:21","slug":"abel-tasman-national-park-day-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/04\/abel-tasman-national-park-day-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Abel Tasman National Park – Day 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We left Meadowbank at 8:30 a.m. en route to our next destination, Torrent Bay Lodge<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most succinct way to describe our hike today is a climb up the mountain, descend the mountain, land on the beach. Repeat three more times for a total of 12.5 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The longer version is we left and crossed Awaroa Beach and Bay and walked in the drizzle and pouring rain along the Awaroa Inlet. We hiked through thick bush and trails up hills and around bends overlooking the Sea. At first the tide was out in the inlet, so it was dry when we left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sarah explains the trees<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We hiked this first segment of the trail today through Onetahuti and just before we arrived at Tonga Quarry, we came to a long boardwalk that took us over wetlands and down to the beach, where the trail continued on the golden sand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oyster Catchers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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At the end of the shore at Tonga Quarry, the group split. Those who signed up to kayak left to do that, a few escaped the track and took the ferry all the way to the lodge and the remainder of us continued our hike. We were all meeting up at Torrent Bay Lodge later in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were only five of us left hiking the whole way along with our guide, Sarah. We walked together as a group after we left Tonga Quarry, but after a mile or so, Mitch and I broke away from the group and went ahead to walk at our own pace. We found they were stopping too often for breaks and explanations of the forest and it broke our hiking rhythm. So Mitch and I forged ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More boardwalks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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And bridges<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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The problem with that is we didn\u2019t get clear tidal instructions about which trail to take at the Bark Bay crossing and came to a fork in the road for a low tide trail and a high tide trail. We stood there at the sign for 10 minutes discussing options hoping the group would catch up. No such luck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Onward we decided. We looked down, saw a lot of sand and not much water, so we opted for the low tide trail as it was at least 30 minutes shorter. Oops! We chose wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We got down to the sea basin as the tide was rolling in, so that would have meant taking off our hiking boots and socks and swapping to our water shoes for the water crossing, and then putting our boots back on after walking with damp feet. Nope! We decided that wasn\u2019t for us, so back up the hill we went, walking 15 more minutes uphill to the high tide trail and wound up with a bonus 30 minute hike extension, plus another 30 minute hike on the high tide trail to Bark Bay. Yay for us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back at the fork in the trail, we ran into another Wilsons guide and group walking in the opposite direction. We got good directions from him (too late for us) and asked them to let Sarah know we were alive and headed to the lodge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were treated to some great views on this part of the track and more suspension bridges with waterfalls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We finally arrived at Bark Bay and had a short rest to eat our lunch and some snacks with the wekas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lunch thief<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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We had two more big mountains to climb, another 4 miles, and we were eager to get to the lodge. The group still had not yet caught up, so we left on our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On this section of track, there was a tree avalanche that took out part of the trail along with some erosion. It got a bit tricky up and around the corners. Tree avalanches are caused when trees with shallow roots break free and start rolling down the mountain taking out other trees with weak root systems as they collapse and fall. We\u2019ve seen the aftermath of these avalanches on our drives and on many of our hikes. We\u2019re glad we didn\u2019t see one of these in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking up the mountain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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And down to the sea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Reading about the Abel Tasman hike beforehand, I thought it was more of a meander from beach to beach, traipsing through golden sand, waves breaking at my feet, flip flops jauntily thrown over my shoulder. Wrong! The elevation gain was more significant than I anticipated and I was glad to have brought my hiking poles. It didn\u2019t come close to the difficulty of some of our other hikes, but I was still caught off guard and out of breath on multiple occasions. The climbs were steep and long at times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We passed over bridges and through more forest sighting Medlands Beach and at last arrived at Torrent Bay Lodge. We snapped a few photos before our final descent down to the beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Torrent Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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We\u2019ve realized now that any hike over 10ish miles is too long and no longer that enjoyable. Good to know for future hikes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We arrived at the lodge, checked into our room and had a chance to relax before dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here\u2019s a look around our lodge as captured by Wilsons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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