New Zealand - Day 8

Today was a hike on the Abel Tasman Coastal track in the Abel Tasman National Park.  This is one of the Great walks of New Zealand.  We hiked 13km of the 60km track from Medlands Beach to Anchorage Hut. 

It was very rainy and windy.  We had to remove our shoes and wade through the surf to board the boat at Kaiteriteri to Medlands Beach. 

At Medlands Beach we saw our first Weka, a cute bird about the size of a small chicken that likes to steal your food and shiny things. Then we headed out on the trail in the rain. 

Partway down the trail we went over Fall River Suspension bridge and saw another of the ever present traps to try and keep the invasive animals in check (wasp and stoat/rat trap).

The trail had many different types of ferns along it.  The first picture is interesting because most ferns reproduce by spores, but this one reproduces by growing a baby plant at the end of a leaf which then breaks free to start its own plant.

The tall plant on the right below is trapped in a time warp as it evolved to only have leaves at the top to avoid being eaten by the giant Moa (extinct now for 500 years)

We stopped at Torrent Bay village hut for a wet lunch.  This small group of homes is grandfathered into the park so people still live here with all access to the outside by boat.

Then we went to Cleopatra's Pool which turned out to be a raging river due to the rain instead of a pool.

The sun finally came out and the last few km of the trail was very nice walk (albeit with very wet clothing). It sure did feel nice.  We had one more suspension bridge to cross (Kakawera bridge).

Between the suspension bridge and the Anchorage Hut pickup point we saw several more birds.

Korimaku (Bellbird)

Weka

Much easier to get on the boat this time at Anchorage Hut as it was not windy.

Back at Kaiteriteri, folks were swimming.  Very different from the morning storms.

Finished off the hike with an ice cream before heading back to the hotel.