- New Zealand Travellers
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Abel Tasman
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Auckland
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Abel Tasman National Park is the smallest National Park in New Zealand. It is located close to Nelson, with day trips operating daily.
Abel Tasman is very popular among travellers and locals. It has both well used and isolated paths which cater for novice and experienced hikers. Visiting the park is a great way to immerse yourself in New Zealand’s wildlife and experience some of the wonderful landscapes the country has to offer.
Things to do
Hiking is very popular with tracks ranging from 1 hour up to 4 ½ hours (and more if you choose to do a 2-5 day walk with camping). Tour companies offer transport to and from the National Park. Other activities include sea kayaking, sailing and seal watching.
A few of the popular tour companies are:
Wilsons Abel Tasman National Park
Abel Tasman Coachlines
Abel Tasman Sailing Adventures
We went hiking in Abel Tasman National Park, from Torrent Bay to Marahau. It was supposed to be a 4 hour walk, it took us 6 ½ and we were jogging the last hour and we took a shortcut that probably knocked off about 45 minutes! We just made the final coach home (we were 7 minutes late, thankfully the coach was 10 minutes late!), moral of the story, give yourself a couple more hours than the suggested time if you intend to stop for lunch and take lots of photos. The route is very scenic, there are lots of photo opportunities. Good balance may also come in handy, some of the paths take you perilously close to the edge of a mountain.
We were aching by the end of the day but we felt very satisfied after walking 15 kilometres. We won’t be doing it again any time soon but we’re so happy we did the hike.