8/4/26 – Kaikoura to Motueka
Oliver, Arthur, Patrick, Grandad and Walter had a great start to the day by collecting a great amount of feijoa’s which were a delicious treat for breakfast. We then started driving along the most stunning coastal road, we stopped at a rest area and to our surprise we saw so many seals swimming and playing on the rocks. It was great watching them and one cute little seal came quite close which was fun to witness. We finally pulled ourselves away from the seals and headed north stopped in Blenheim at a great playground for lunch and a good stretch of the legs.
When we arrived at Havelock it was great to reminisce about riding along the road, we wanted to go back to Mahalo Paoa lookout to show Nicola and Walter the amazing views of Marlborough Sounds. Everyone was fighting to a place to hold Walter’s hand as he walked up to the lookout hehe.
As we drove towards Nelson the boys spoke non-stop about the day we rode along the road, it was lovely to hear their excitement and happiness in remembering the day. Of course we stopped off at the Hira dairy which served the best ice creams and again gave us all enough energy to drive the last section to Debbie’s.
The boys were very relieved when we arrived as Debbie had a bucket load of lego ready for them to play and it was great to see all four of them play happily while the adults did adult things like unpack, set up the tent, prepare dinner and catch up. We were spoilt with freshly caught fish for dinner which was delicious and then our thoughts all turned to preparing for the Abel Tasman hike, thankfully Debbie had two packs Rhys and I could borrow 🙂
9/4/26 – Motueka
We were very fortunate to have Debbie’s house to get everything sorted for hiking the Abel Tasman trail tomorrow. We even managed to borrow 2 packs and some dry bags to make packing bit easier and then Debbie also helped out by taking the kids down to the park so that the ‘grown ups’ could get the packs sorted. It was exciting to get things together for the hike however as the pack became heavier and heavier we started to mentally prepare for a bit of suffering tomorrow!
Raelene and Nicola returned the hire car to Nelson, Oliver was pretty excited to receive his new backpack and instantly started filling it with essentials. Arthur the whole day continued to reassure us his ankle would be ok, he is so excited to go for the walk and we think he is a little afraid we might tell him he can’t due to his ankle injury. We filled the afternoon with a drive out to Kaiteriteri for a swim at the beach. At first the kids were not to keen to get in the water however the lure of playing with some floating toys drew them in to having a swim in relatively temperate water! it was actually pretty cold but totally swimmable!
10/4/26 – Marahau to Anchorage – 12.4km
Being woken up by an alarm clock is something that we do not miss, but this morning it was ok as it was hiking day. Excitement levels were high and it didn’t take us long to do the final pack, most packs were very heavy which we were a bit nervous about…. we then did a few trips in the car to shuttle everyone to the bus stop. After a short bus ride we arrived at the start, the bus driver told us about the water taxi company which does luggage transport and I have to admit it sounded pretty inviting however we were all feeling independent and wanted to carry our own packs.
Immediately the trail takes you along the coast and the views are stunning, it wasn’t long before we saw our first weka, Arthur was so excited and while he was eating his apple he knelt down to get a closer look at the weka. Before he could react the weka had come up and pecked his apple right out of his hands and ran back into the bush! Cheeky thing.
Walter wasn’t a fan of the backpack so we stopped at a view point for him to have a rest and something to eat. Oliver, Arthur and Patrick then needed to also have a snack. Back on the trail it didn’t take long for Walter to settle into his new seat, poor Nicola had 3 boys wrestle for position to hold her hand as we walked.
We stopped at Appletree Bay for lunch, we had to be on guard from the very cheeky and slightly annoying weka’s who would try and take any food they could if you weren’t looking. Grandad turned away for a split second and suddenly a weka was running off with Oliver’s cashew nuts, a very quick fellow hiker ran after the weka and was able to recover the nuts.
The walk to Anchorage truly was stunning, the track winds around the coast passing many gorgeous bays along the way. So many people were out enjoying the water in boats and kayaks it was great to see. Water taxi’s also continually passed up and down the coast. Granny, Grandad, Nicola and Walter zoomed ahead of us as they wanted to get to camp to take their packs off. We slowed down to help Arthur as his ankle was starting to ache a little, but the brave little boy took some Panadol and continued without complaint. The views approaching Anchorage Bay were breathtaking, however the steep descend into the bay was far from lovely! far out it was steep and with a heavy pack it was rather difficult (we are bike fit but definitely not hike fit!)
At the bottom of the hill we found Granny, Grandad, Walter and Nicola and with Walter not wanting to return to the backpack Rhys carried him the final push along the beach to our campsite. It was a great relief to put the packs down for the day, not wanting to stiffen up we all quickly set up our tents then headed to the beach to enjoy the water and sun for the afternoon.
It was lovely sitting on the beach watching the boys play in the water, we all braved the water and enjoyed a refreshing swim. The water was fresh but refreshing. There were thousands of tiny jelly fish that had red centres and these kept Oliver, Arthur and Patrick occupied for a very long time. They dug a whole and collected the jelly fish in their ‘jelly fish farm’.
After the swim Rhys and I walked up to the fresh water shower, that was nearly worse than swimming in the ocean…..Weka’s again dominated the camp area and we were constantly shooing them away.
We had a great evening around an empty fireplace (no fires permitted) chatting and eating, there is something wonderful about hiking I have missed it a lot. We all went to bed not long after the sun – it was a great first day and I hope we all aren’t too sore tomorrow.
11/4/26 – Anchorage to Bark Bay – 11.5km
It was a lovely, relaxing morning around camp. To try and make it easier for Susans and Grants backs, we rearranged and swapped packs so that they had better fitting and supportive harnesses. Finally someone enjoyed the warm porridge that we cook up every morning…Walter ate a whole bowl and wanted more! I must say we are all getting a bit tired of porridge but it’s really all we’ve got for breakfast these days!!! While we finalised packing the tents and packs the kids had a great time playing down on the beach in the sun.
Finally it was time to head off. We had managed to fluke the tides and timed it just right for low tide to coincide with our walking times. Essentially this meant that instead of heading over the hill from Anchorage campsite, we were able to cut across the mudflats and take the low tide route. However, from the advice of the ranger at anchorage campsite last night, instead of cutting all the way accross the low tide route, we veered west and took a ‘short cut’ up a creek bed in order to join the trail and get to Cleopatras pool. It was a bit of a battle in barefoot up the freezing cold water in the rocky creek bed…but a positive was that Arthur and Patrick enjoyed looking for crabs under all the rocks. We finally regained the trail and made it into Cleopatras pool which we had been told had a pretty awesome natural rock slide! Raelene and I both braved the frigid water and slid down the rock slide! Arthur was pretty close to joining us however felt it was just too cold.
We walked back out to the main trail and warmed back up with some pasta and cuppa soups. Grant and Susan got walking and Patrick ran off after them which was cute to see. The rest of us ate, packed up then ambled off after them through beautiful coastal bush with sunshine gleaming through the trees. Apart from some steep sections which tested the knees, the walking was relatively straightforward and after a long section we rounded the corner to see Patrick sitting may himself on the trail. He stated that he wanted to wait for us and had found a weka to hang out with. Granny and Grandad told him to stay put and we would catch up in no time.
By this time it was starting to get rather late, our late getaway, slow pace and detour up to Cleopatras pool meant that we were starting to race the sun. Raelene went off ahead while I hung back with Oliver who was also suffering from some ankle discomfort. Nicola, Walter, Arthur and Patrick carried on ahead. Raelene reached camp and found Grant and Susan were already there and were tired and sore. She grabbed a jumper and some food for Walter then Met up with Nicola who were nearly at Bark bay. Arthur’s ankle was really hurting him by this stage so she piggybacked him the rest of the way. Oliver and I rolled in not too long after and we were all pretty happy to have made it to camp after a long day on our feet.
I headed down to the beach for a quick swim which was lovely. It was then time to cook up a delicious dal under fairy lights, and drink up as much wine we could to lower the weight in the packs! Over dinner we had a chat and decided that we would plan to get The kids, Nicola, Grant and Susan onto a water taxi tomorrow up to Awaroa. The only threat to that plan was the fact that the Ranger had come around earlier and informed us that the weather, related to the cyclone that was pummelling the north island, was due to deteriorate over night and had the potential to threaten the water taxi’s…Fingers crossed it all works out tomorrow for Nicola’s birthday!!!!!
12/4/26 – Bark Bay to Awaroa – 13.5km.
Around midnight it started to rain and not only did it rain it started to pour on and off until morning. Oliver and Arthur woke overnight and needed a wee, when they returned Oliver got into Arthur’s bed by accident and fell asleep immediately. Arthur told him to move and Oliver, who must have been fast asleep, didn’t want to! It took quite some time and a bit of shaking to convince him to move back into his bed…in the morning Oliver had no memory of the night! In between the rain showers we said happy birthday to Nicola and took shelter in the small kitchen area. Poor Nicola did not have a wet weather jacket so while she stayed as dry as possible (which was not very dry due to already walking around sorting things out) we packed up her tent. The boys and I ate our breakfast in our tent as the kitchen was too small with the other campers who were also sheltering from the rain in there. While we ate, a cheeky weka continued to poke its head under the vestibule and tried quite a few time to get into my pack.
Luckily it was only rain and no wind so we were very hopeful the water taxi’s would still be operating today, and had agreed Granny, Grandad, Nicola, Walter, Oliver, Arthur and Patrick would all get the taxi to our next campsite, Awaroa. Rhys and I wanted to walk but were going to try and get our packs on the taxi. After we packed everything away we had a small birthday gift giving celebration for Nicola – Happy 40th! Right on time, 10am, the taxi arrived and was able to fit everyone on. It continued to rain as we waved goodbye, so we turned around and made for the trail with a drink bottle and two energy bars.
It was a very steep climb up out of Bark Bay, we were very grateful not to have the packs. Most of the walk was slightly inland in quite dense bush so the rain didn’t really ruin the day of hiking. The bush really is beautiful even in the rain, it reminded us a lot of the west coast of Tasmania. We ate our ‘lunch’ at Onetahuti bay before walking along the beach beside some very friendly Variable Oyster Catchers. We had a lovely few hours walking to Awaroa, it felt odd not having the kids with us but we enjoyed the alone time and chatted along the way hoping everyone else was ok and keeping dry.
Just over 2hrs later we walked into Awaroa and went to the boat ramp, no one was there so we assumed they had told Nicola the surprise of us having organised accomodation at the Glamping and made their way there. As we walked up the steep driveway to Awaroa Glamping we spotted Nicola and Granny – woohoo we had arrived.
We had a quick catch up on their adventures, Nicola found out we weren’t tent camping on the water taxi and was very relieved. At the boat ramp a motorbike had arrived and carried the packs to the accomodation but they all still had to walk so poor Nicola was drenched but still in high spirits. Once everyone had got dry we spent the afternoon inside enjoying the warmth of the fire and being rewarded with amazing views of the inlet. The kids loved playing with the lego and Grandad versed Oliver to a few games of chess.
We had delicious chocolate birthday cake then poor Walter was so tired but unable to sleep so Rhys did Uncle duty and took him for a walk to get him to sleep, it was cute to see Rhys walking down in the bush with a sleeping baby. The afternoon disappeared quite quickly and before long the pizza oven was fired up and we were enjoying delicious smoked fish, vegetarian and pepperoni pizza’s as the sun set. It was a wonderful day and a great way to celebrate Nicola’s 40th. Well after dark we all retired to our respective tents and while we dosed off to sleep we heard a loud crash….assuming it was a tree far up the valley….still it was rather off putting considering all the evidence of landslides along the trail.
13/4/26 – Water taxi from Awaroa back to Marahau
We had a great morning up at the house, happy that the rain had passed however it had been replaced with a relatively stiff easterly breeze that could make boarding the water taxi home today a bit tricky. We said our thanks and goodbyes to our hosts and walked off down to check out the inlet at low tide. Thankfully our host dropped out packs down to the beach with the Four wheeler motorbike which made our morning so 10x easier!
We met the Water taxi on the beach and the captain got us all loaded up then treated us to a bit of a tour down the coast line, spotting seals in a lovely protected cove along the way. As we approached the beach in Marahau we could see tractors up to their axles in the water….Thinking this a bit strange we watched as our captain sped towards the tractor then drive the huge 7m osprey onto the submerged boat trailer! the tractor then chugged up the beach and we were out of the water in no time! The kids thought it was pretty fun how the tractor towed us up off the beach then around town before finally stopping off at the water taxi base.
We unloaded then headed up to the fat Tui to try and buy a burger for lunch. unfortunately it was closed! so we went for plan B and cooked up everything we had left in our packs for lunch outside the Aqua taxi office. Walter enjoyed sitting on the Tractors and Oliver did a great job of looking after him.
As we were waiting for the Shuttle bus to take us back we were treated to a bit of carpark entertainment as a couple of Spanish tourists were trying to back their large camper van out. As it happened the juicy van next to them had done a terrible job of parking and essentially boxed them in. The aqua taxi staff were about to get a forklift and try and move the juicy van, however Raelene tried the little side window which opened! Patrick got the call up and was popped through the window where he unlocked the van and allowed us to pop it in neutral and push it out of the way! The tourists were so impressed that they gave Patrick $4 to say thanks for helping. Patrick was Pumped!
We finally got the bus home where we unpacked everything and tried to dry it all out…When we sat down for dinner we got a call from the bus company who had found Peter Rabbit on the bus! oh no! Thankfully we organised a way to get it back in the morning, much to Patricks relief!
14/4/26 – Motueka
In the morning the boys were immediately into the lego, building lots of cool houses. Rhys walked to meet the bus on the Main Street to rescue Peter Rabbit after his overnight adventure. I started on sorting out all our gear (thankfully Granny and Grandad are taking a bag of things back to Tasmania for us, its amazing how much we have accumulated that we just don’t need on the bikes, most of it is due to Christmas) and doing loads of washing before it was time to walk to the bus stop for our trip to Pics peanut butter factory. All the kids were very excited about catching a bus and they had good reason as the trip into Nelson was lovely as we went the scenic way along the coast. The bus was so busy and by the time we got off at our stop we had to rush to Pic’s to make it in time for the tour.
It was interesting having the opportunity to check out the factory and hear the story of how 1 man’s vision of making pure peanut butter became a reality. Pic started making peanut butter in his house using a blender, then moved to a stainless steal cement mixer, then into a large factory which produces approximately 35 000 jars of peanut butter every day! Crazy. The kids, including Walter, enjoyed watching the machines work then had fun riding a bicycle which crushed peanuts into peanut butter. At the end of the tour we got to taste all the different flavours, a crowd favourite was the salt and pepper peanut butter. After the tour we walked to a local brewery for taco’s and beer which were both delicious. It was then time to catch the bus home, we walked for a little while to find a bus stop, along the way we all had a turn to carry the very cute Walter who was loving a shoulder ride. I had a little luck (or bad luck for the bus driver) as after I paid for our fares a little while later I realised instead of $24 change I received $44 (2 $20 notes were stuck together). Once back in Motueka we rushed home to get in the washing and pack away the, now dry, tents before the rain arrived. Granny and Oliver went for a walk into town to find a book – ‘Watchout for Weka’, unfortunately not finding the book they walked home having a stop at McDonalds to have a special treat (a large strawberry sundae) just the two of them which Oliver thinks is pretty special.
Once everyone had finalised their packing the boys had a movie evening while Granny, Grandad, Nicola, Rhys and I enjoyed a wine and played card games while also reminiscing on the brilliant time we had all just had together.
