Abel Tasman - Day 1 - To Whariwharangi

Raining as we got on the boat outside the boat company office, as the tide was low we were driven by a tractor across the bay to open water. The journey felt rough as the speed boat bounced over the oncoming waves, it stopped at a number of golden bays on the way north, we would visit these again as we walked south.

We visited Tonga Island where there is a colony of New Zealand fur seals, they seemed to have a good life, lolling on the rocks, occasionally waving a flipper, their natural predators are orca and man, but hunting is forbidden in the national park and marine reserve – not a bad candidate for re-incarnation if such a thing existed.

We were last to get off, Totaranui being the final destination of the water taxi. From Totaranui we headed north on the inland track for a walk of a couple hours to our first nights stop the Whariwharangi DOC (Department of Conservation) hut. To get there we ascended Gibbs Hill, 405m. A fairly easy trail through scrub which gave good views down to the bays. A wee bit of mist hid the view at the summit but the path then descended through gorgeous native forest to the hut.
Shortly after we arrived it started to rain, not stopping until the next midmorning. The hut was fairly quiet, it was an old homestead which had been converted., there were flush toilets and a (cold) shower!