Abel Tasman: Anchorage Bay to Bark Bay

location: Abel Tasman National Park - Anchorage to Bark Bay
distance: approx 7 miles

sights: after a day of paddling from Marahau to Anchorage Bay and giving our shoulders a good, hard work session, we gave our upper bodies a rest and gave our legs a their first Great Walk outing.

ours were the first outbound tracks on the beach that morning (though at least one person was up and headed off to the south before we left the hut), and didn't see anyone until past the tramper lodging in as is our wont, we were up well before many of the other hut-dwellers - though not as many as at our shelter on the Routeburn Track.

the first section of trail had two options - the shorter low-tide route and longer high-tide route. even though we had a fair bit of time before the tide came in, we opted for the longer route, which ascended a hill and led through the forest around Torrent Bay. we even opted for a side trek of a couple hundred meters to a spot called Cleopatra's Slide - a weathered rock formation in the river that looked a little like a waterslide. the water was far to cold for a dip to be enjoyable, but one could only imagine how satisfying it might be in hotter weather.

the village of Torrent Bay included a couple dozen private properties - rentals mostly, and some vacation homes - as well as a proper hostel right on the bay. we managed to get up the hill between clumps of people and enjoyed mostly solitary walking and spectacular views from the cliffs overlooking the sea. at Falls River we got to cross one of the more dramatic and scenic swing bridges of the trip before passing up on the opportunity to descent to Sandfly Bay.

we reached the Bark Bay DOC hut with more than a bit of time to spare before our anticipated water taxi. took advantage of the facilities and had a rest and started camp lunch at the noon-time-deserted hut. more rugged (probably older construction) than the Anchorage hut, with two bunk rooms that were just big platforms stacked one atop the other. small communal area - which probably made for cozier confines in cold weather - and only a few meters to the water's edge.

after brief recon, we deduced that the water taxi was more likely to pick up from the narrow spit of land in the bay on which the campsites were located, and headed there to enjoy our lunch, the soft sandy beach, and the feeling of having our hiking boots off. we watched kayaks arrive and explore the estuary; a young couple meet their kayak guide off a water taxi; tour boats drop ladders for passengers to climb onto the beach for a brief wander; the water taxis adjust their routes based on the changing tide level... and then realized that we technically had two hours between when we finished our lunch and when the water taxi was scheduled to pick us up ...

Bark Bay

but all the same we flagged down another taxi heading back to Marahau - didn't clarify before we heaved our packs onto the boat and helped the skip haul a couple of kayaks into place on the back of the boat - as to which taxi/company we'd booked with. turns out, we were supposed to go with a different outfit, but this type of situation happens so often and the guys who run the charters know one another so well that he just called in to notify the right people and handled it. bar tabs and beer debts owed were discussed in familiar terms.

overall, the combination of kayaking and hiking was wonderful. one of many instances while in New Zealand that I wished we'd had more time - to kayak, to hike, to go farther and see more. and that we were close enough to make a weekend of it again in the future, like one of the groups we encountered!