A Day With Abel Tasman

It was still dark when the alarm went off at 6:15 this morning. We had to be packed, showered, breakfasted and on the bus by 8pm. Today was a day of driving with a few refreshment breaks along the way. The West Coast of New Zealand faces the Tasman sea, approximately 1000 miles of water separating them from Australia. It’s rough sea, lots of currents and big tides, not a place for swimming.

The coast line north is rugged and remote, we’re on the coast side of the bus and in a couple of places there are long sheer drops to the waves crashing onto rocks far below.

After about an hour we turned inland, driving up the valley of the Buller River which flows off of the mountains. The scenery in these big rivers is very reminiscent of what we saw in British Columbia, but without there are no bears.

We stopped at a cafe in a small settlement called Berlin, this was the site of the first gold discovery on the West Coast in 1859. A couple of the locals looked like they might have been there to witness it. We both had a flat white – not the best.

We drove further up the Buller valley then turned north onto flatter more arable land. We stopped briefly for a snack in Murchison – date muffin for me, egg sandwich for Florence. Final stop before lunch was a brief ‘comfort break’ in the small town of Tapawera, the coach stopped outside a small museum which included the remains of Kiwi Station, a small station on a line built in 1905 to connect the small towns in the region to Nelson.

Lunch was in Motueka. We were dropped off on the high street with 90 minutes to feed ourselves and explore the town. We looked in a number of places but nothing really grabbed us, we eventually settled on the town museum cafe – it was okay. We bought some haloumi cheese and pinot noir to go with the barbecue planned for dinner. It was only a half hour drive to our accommodation for tonight, at the entrance to the Abel Tasman National Park. We have our own cottage, big rooms, a jacuzzi, terrace and garden – hopefully we’ll have enough time to enjoy it.

Abel Tasman National Park covers 70km of coast on the North West corner of the South Island. It faces across Tasman Bay to the North Island. Abel Tasman was a Dutch sailor, he was the first European to visit Tasmania and New Zealand, he came here in 1642. It wasn’t the best start, he sent boat’s ashore to collect water and four of the men were killed by Maoris.

Once we settled in, we went for a walk along the coast. The path starts across a series of low bridges crossing a shallow estuary then joins a number of bays and beaches up the coast. We went as far as the first beach, Porter Beach, and stared at the sea in the distance across the sand, oyster catchers, herons and gulls waded in the water looking for food.

Unfortunately by the time we got back the ice cream stall had shut for the day – we need to be back earlier tomorrow. The barbecue was good, lots of tasty things – there are two other vegetarians in our group and – crucially – the guide so we’re well looked after.