Abel Tasman Great Walk, Caribbean in New Zealand?

Today, the 3-day Great Walk 'Abel Tasman' was on the agenda. I bought a tent the day before to be able to do a 'trial night' in the wilderness. This trial night was probably nothing. I froze like a koala in Antarctica, I have rarely slept as badly as that night. So I quickly bought a sleeping bag in the warehouse at 8 a.m.

At 9 a.m. we met our kayak guide at the agreed meeting point in Marahau. We received a one-hour safety briefing on how to behave in an emergency. Then we were off. We put our kayak in the sea and paddled out into the open sea. However, at this time the tide was low, which made it feel like a slalom course.

After a half-hour break on a deserted island, including a photo break, we paddled further towards 'Anchorage'. Anchorage was our first stage destination. We had to paddle about 12km to get there.

When we arrived, we were both quite out of breath because the current was against us and constantly washed us back into the open sea at a few meters per second. So the ride became a physically demanding ride. We reached Anchorage after about 3 and a half hours of paddling. After that, we went on a 15 km hike to Barks Bay with our luggage. We arrived at 6 p.m.

We immediately set up our tent and made a small campfire, which was actually prohibited. However, we were both very cold. After we had eaten our 'stick-fried potatoes', we went towards the tent. This time it was much more comfortable to sleep with a sleeping bag.

The next morning we got up at quarter to 6 to admire the sunrise. After a quick shower in the icy sea at 8 a.m., we packed our things and continued north. The goal was the camp between Awaroa and Totaranui. Today we walked along a 15 km long hiking trail. We had to hurry because the tide is at 1 p.m. in Awaroa to be able to cross the sea. If we missed this low tide, we would have had to pitch our tent here. But everything went well, at the last moment we crossed the approximately 2 km long sea.

When we arrived at our camp, we set up our tent again. We were quite early, so this time we could enjoy the moment of being able to admire the sunset on a lonely beach. The colors went crazy during the sunset, with pink, orange and red all represented. After warming up by the campfire for another two hours in the darkness, we went into the tent.

Like the day before, we got up at 6 a.m. to admire the sunrise. We started our march at 8 a.m. Today we only had 4 km left to go to reach our destination. The short hike, which brought a lot of steep inclines again, mostly led along lonely beaches. When we arrived at our destination, we had to wait another 6 hours for our water taxi.

On the boat, we realized what an incredible distance we had covered. This Great Walk was simply indescribable. It felt like being in the Caribbean all the time. Wonderful!