the beginning of the abel tasman coastal walk
this is where we started to run downhill
finally we reach our destination!
Abel Tasman is a National park and is considered on of the "great walks" in new zealand(just like the tongariro crossing that I did in taupo). Its a coastal trek and if you were to do the whole thing it would take 3-4 days. We didnt have time or equipment to do the whole trek so we decided to do a 8 hour return hike. Basically we hiked 4 hours in and 4 hours back.
The trail was incredibly scenic. It started out pretty flat walking across platforms over a sandy expanse of marshy area. Then the trail became more like a rainforest and we hiked under trees that looked like palm trees and passed numerous waterfalls. After a few hours it became steeper and drier. It reminded me more of the mountains I hiked in Ecuador the higher up we went.
When we got high enough we could see dazzling blue water all around us and even some islands out a little ways. When we began to descend we decided just to run it. We ran all the way down to the bottom, nearly tripping over a rock or two and were very surprised where we ended up. The trail just all of a sudden opened up into the most beautiful secluded beach. (dont worry aunt debbie I got you some sand:) It felt good to be there because we knew that you could only get to it after 4 hours of hiking (we later noticed little water taxis bringing some lazier people in but o well lol)
We sat and basked in the glory of our new found beach for about half and hour until we realized we still had to hike all the way back. And the down hill we just ran had now turned into a grueling uphill hike. o dear.
but we did it and we slept well that night:)
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