Abel Tasman - Day 2 - To Awaroa

Still raining in the morning and my cold had not improved any. All dressed up for the weather we headed down the trail only to realise that we were really close to the sea. We took the detour to Separation Point where we saw a couple of fur seals and some shags. Back on the path we continued to Mutton Cove, the weather started improving and we reached Totaranui.


As we had to cross a tidal bay and low tide was not until the evening we took it easy on the path from Totaranui to Awaroa. We stopped at Goat Bay where I had a paddle and Helen a swim. Arrived eventually at the Awaroa crossing, the tide was still too high, it was only safe to cross 2 hours before and after low tide, we had to wait until 5:12pm before we could try it. At 5:12 it still looked deep to me but took off the boots, donned the flipflops and started across. It did get deep – right up to my hips. Luckily the water was fairly warm. The Awaroa hut is right at the other side side, so we claimed a bunk and put dinner on to soak.

The tide continued to recede and it soon looked as though it would possible to cross the estuary dry shod! A walk before dinner then bed.