On the morning of July 10th we loaded up the car and drove back to Kaiteriteri beach. Our boat departed at 9 in the morning, and as we pulled up to the beach we spotted it pulled up by the sand with a little bridge stretched across the small stream flowing out from the estuary (due to it being low tide). Walking up we immediately spotted John from the day before, he was helping to load the boat and we talked with him for 10 minutes or so as we waited for all 10 - 15 passengers to arrive.
A few minutes up the coast we passed Split Apple Rock - one of the more iconic sights in the area. The large boulder located just off shore was split in half approximately 120 million years ago during an ice age when water which had seeped into the rock froze to ice and expanded, and in doing so split the rock in half.
Among the people on board the boat were the owner of the Sea Shuttle business, and about 4 of his workers - including Mark who (along with John) had helped us with the kayak the day prior. As we talked with Mark we found out that he and the other workers along with the owner would be dropped off at a beach that is not a normal part of the route. Scattered around Abel Tasman National Park are several private homes all of which are only accessible by boat. Ownership of these small plots of land proceeded the creation of the National Park, and so still today there are a lucky handful of folks who can come stay at a vacation home deep in the park. One such cabin- which was falling apart - was located just off the beach where Mark and the other guys would be dropped and they were going in for the day to demolish what remained of the cabin and work on removing it from the park.
Twenty minutes after dropping off Mark and the demo team, our family was stepping onto the sands at Anchorage a breathtaking beach and protected bay which takes its name due to being one of the best places to safely anchor a boat in the Abel Tasman National Park. We were the only people getting off at Anchorage and as the boat pulled away from the beach it felt like we had Abel Tasman to ourselves. There were two sailboats anchored in the bay with no perceptible activity on them and a few minutes after we landed a little motorboat which had been on the sand at the far end of the beach (maybe 1/4 mile from us) drove off and out of the bay, then it was just us.
After landing on shore we headed to the right, following the sand all the way to the cliffs framing that end of the beach. There, we found a really cool tunnel, which Mark had told us about. Only accessible during low tide the tunnel goes through a huge rock which is actually an island at high tide (the tidal swing is roughly 15 feet). The boys loved exploring it, and we checked out the little beach on the other side of the tunnel, with the boys climbing over rocks to the ocean.
After thoroughly exploring that end of Anchorage beach we walked the half mile or more down to the other end, where there is a Cabin and Campground for people who are doing the 60 km (37 mile) Abel Tasman Coastal Track, one of New Zealand's 10 Great Walks. The Abel Tasman Coastal Track typically takes 3 - 5 days to complete, and upon seeing how spectacular the cabin is, that hike looks very enticing! The New Zealand Department of Conservation maintains a staggering 1400 huts scattered around the backcountry of New Zealand along trails both famous and unknown. The huts set along the 10 Great Walks tend to be very well maintained, and getting a chance to peek into the Anchorage hut let us see that using these huts isn't exactly "roughing it". Included along with bunks are a nice kitchen, flush toilets, and a fireplace in the dining room where hikers can warm up after a long day on the trail - this is a far cry from sleeping in a tent! Our timing at the hut was perfect because anyone hiking out from the prior night had already hit the trail, and anyone hiking in to sleep that night was still enroute, so there was no one around.
After looking around the hut and camping area (if you don't have a reservation for the hut you can still do the track and stay in a tent), we went on a short hike. Our hike took us over a little stream that flowed onto the beach and up into the forest. We spotted Pīwakawaka (fantail) bouncing about in the branches of the trees along the trailside, and enjoyed the sounds of several other native birds (only when Reef would briefly pause his narration as we hiked along).
Before we knew it, we had to head back down to the beach to catch our boat back to Kaiteriteri Beach. During summer season, and even spring and fall, the Sea Shuttle runs frequently throughout the day, during the winter months only two boats go through the park a day. Our options were to spend 2 hours at Anchorage or 6 hours, and the odds of River holding up for 6 hours is pretty minimal - so we opted for just 2 hours on the beach. When combined with a 45 min boat ride each way the outing was a perfect half day in the park.
The next day we packed up from our AirBnb in Motueka, swung by Toad Hall for a quick breakfast to go, and headed to the Nelson Airport. At the tiny airport we found 3 cafes, and two bar/restaurants. A pretty impressive selection of food and drink for an airport without a security checkpoint (because flights are aboard small propeller planes), and just one large room with a door that says "Arrivals" and another which says "Departures" each of which leads out to the tarmac. We were relieved to find that the airport also had a "Kids Zone" where River burned off energy and had a great time as we waited for our flight. Taking off, it was clear skies with a great view of Nelson as we flew on toward the North Island.
Into Auckland we flew, grabbing Subway on our way out of the terminal and then after getting a bit turned around looking for the rental cars finally settling in for the 2 1/2 hour drive to Whangamatā, the last of our four main stops for the trip.
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