Abel Tasman National Park - a Park for all Seasons

Courtesy of NZ Today Magazine.

The Abel Tasman is one of our most accessible national parks.

It's as much about the water as it is about bush and is famous for its protected azure water which is separated from green bush by a strip of golden sand. Access to the Abel Tasman is about 6 km from the centre of Motueka. You can walk in from Marahau, or you can catch a water taxi straight off the beach at Kaiteriteri.

There are lodges within the park, some private homes and you can choose between two walks or kayak around the coast. This really is a national park that everyone can use — not only those of a strappingly fit nature!

At 22,530 hectares, Abel Tasman is New Zealand's smallest national park. Two tracks, one inland and one coastal, run through the Park.

The Abel Tasman Coast Track is maintained to a high standard as one of New Zealand’s Great Walks by the Department of Conservation. It is known mainly for the Tasman Bay section running 38 km from Marahau in the South, to Totaranui in the North. The entire Coast Track continues a further 13 kms North into the Wainui Inlet, Golden Bay.
The Abel Tasman Inland Track runs for 38 kms through the hilly centre of the Park. It is more arduous with fewer facilities than the Coast Track.

The park has a mild climate that is comfortable year-round. Average daily temperatures vary by only 10 degrees C and rain is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. Most native trees are evergreens, so the forest is green and vibrant through all seasons.

The nearest towns are Motueka, Takaka and Kaiteriteri. Roads lead to Marahau and Totaranui at either end of the Coast Track (1.5 and 2.5 hours from Nelson) and provide access to the Inland track system. There is restricted road access (4WD drive only) to the Awaroa Inlet from Takaka. There are regular and on-demand bus services to the park from local towns and from Nelson. Launch and water taxi services run between Kaiteriteri and Totaranui.

For at least 500 years Maori lived along the Abel Tasman coast, gathering food from the sea, estuaries and forests, and growing kumara on suitable sites. Most occupation was seasonal but some sites in Awaroa estuary were permanent. The Ngati Tumatakokiri people were resident when, on 18 December 1642, the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman anchored his two ships near Wainui in Mohua (Golden Bay), the first European to visit Aotearoa - New Zealand. He lost four crew in a skirmish with the local people and soon moved on.

French explorer, Dumont D’Urville, provided reliable maps of the Abel Tasman coast in 1827. His interactions with local Maori were friendly and productive. In the 1830s the Maori tribes of Te Tau Ihu (top of the South Island) were decimated by warring tribes from the North Island.

Permanent European settlement began around 1855. The settlers logged forests, built ships, quarried granite and fired the hillsides to create pasture. For a time there was prosperity but soon the easy timber was gone and gorse and bracken invaded the hills. Little now remains of their enterprises.

Concern about the prospect of more logging along the coast prompted a campaign, led by local naturalist Perrine Moncrieff, to have 15,000 hectares of crown land made into a national park. A petition presented to the Government suggested Abel Tasman's name for the park and it was duly opened in 1942 — the 300th anniversary of his visit. Lease-hold land within the park was reclaimed by the Government but owners of freehold title were not obligated to sell their land. Therefore, unusually, small pockets of privately owned land remain with the boundaries of the National Park.

The most noticeable features of this park are the golden sandy beaches, the fascinating rocky outcrops (mainly granite but with a scattering of limestone and marble) and the rich, unmodified estuaries. The landscape has been modified, perhaps more than in our other national parks. The vegetation cover varies and reflects a history of fires and land clearance, but the forests are regenerating well especially in damp gullies where a rich variety of plants can be found. Black beech dominates the drier ridges.

The more common forest birds, like tui and bellbirds, can be seen along with pukeko around the estuaries and wetlands. The park's boundary excludes the estuaries and seabed but in 1993 the Tonga Island Marine Reserve was created along one part of the Abel Tasman coast. Like a national park, all life in the reserve is protected.

Backpacker accommodation, motels and lodges are available in the towns near the Park.
Within the Park boundaries, Awaroa Lodge operates hotel-style accommodation, and Wilsons Abel Tasman operate the only two private beachfront lodges, Torrent Bay Lodge and Meadowbank Homestead – Awaroa Bay.

If visitors choose not to stay in private accommodation, they can stay overnight in DoC huts and campsites: four huts along the Coast Track, four huts Inland and 20 campsites throughout the Park with a water supply and toilets.

All Coast Track huts and campsites must be booked before travelling into the Park.

Darryl Wilson is the seventh generation of the Hadfields, who were one of the first European families to settle in the greater Nelson region, arriving in 1841. Darryl Wilson's mother was a Hadfield before marriage — and today he heads the award-winning, family-owned Wilsons Abel Tasman — the region's leading tourist operator.

The Hadfield family have had a long and constant involvement in the Abel Tasman, long before it became a national park. The original Hadfield homestead, on the Awapoto River, stands on 793 hectares of privately owned land within the park. It was offered for purchase to the Nature Heritage Trust and purchased by them in November last year.

There is enormous pride in the history and the heritage of the Hadfield family's involvement in the area and a major history on the family — Awaroa Legacy — was published in 1999.

The Wilsons have been tourism operators in the Abel Tasman since 1977. But the story really started in 1968 when Darryl's father, John Wilson built a launch, Matangi, at his home in Riwaka for the family to use in the waters off the park and the family bought holiday home at Torrent Bay.

This is pretty much where the story might have ended if a boat bringing visitors to the park had not been wrecked in a storm in 1975. That made John Wilson think about the potential for tourism in the park and he had the Matangi surveyed to operate as a commercial passenger vessel.

This worked so well that seven years later the family was granted a concession to take guided walks into the park and the cottage at Torrent Bay was extended for the first time to provide comfortable overnight accommodation.

Six years after that the company ordered a purpose built, 148 seater boat, the Abel Tasman Explorer, from Jack Guard, the legendary Nelson boat builer, and got into the tourist business in a very meaningful way.

In 1994 the Wilson family rebuilt the original Hadfield homestead, Meadowbank, at Awaroa to operate as a 22 bed lodge with ensuite bathrooms for people on the guided walks.

The next year sea kayaking was offered as another service and in 2001 the third rebuild of the Torrent Bay Lodge was completed with 13 single/double bedrooms with ensuites.
Since then Darryl Wilson has taken over the running of the company and it's now an internationally recognised operator in the Abel Tasman National Park with a host of awards behind it.

In 2006 Wilsons Abel Tasman won the Qualmark Mark of Quality at the NZ Tourism Awards and the Nelson Chamber of Commerce Business Awards, overall winner. This year the company rated 98% in the Qualmark assessment score.

Wilsons Abel Tasman offers guided walking tours and sea kayaking and the company owns a fleet of four water taxis, the 148 seater "Abel Tasman Explorer" and the two beachfront lodges — Meadowbank Homestead - Awaroa Bay and Torrent Bay Lodge. Earlier this year the company changed its name from Abel Tasman Wilson's Experiences to Wilsons Abel Tasman to emphasis the family’s connection to the region and the business.

Article Courtesy of NZ Today magazine. E-mail to subscribe.

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