No place like home
COVER STORY
From E5 Around 1953 we had a school picnic at Hot Water Beach. I don’t recall digging in the sand for hot water at the time. Rather my memories are of the long walk to get to the beach and the fun swimming in the lagoon. Back then cars were left parked at the bottom of the hill and beach access was through a grove of trees that followed the stream. After leaving the road you pushed your way through scrub and under low boughs of pohutukawa trees until eventually, when you emerged into the dazzling sunlight, you were on the sand. In hindsight it was a unique bush walk to a beach and probably only a five-minute hike, but to a 5-year-old anxious to play in the sand and swim in the lagoon that track seemed endless. Sally Atwell Hot Water Beach is our special place. Two years ago, with my daughter, my son and my grandson, we scattered my wife Jo’s ashes there. In 1970, Jo and I had bought a section up the hill above the beach and built one of the first baches. We spent magic holidays there, making pools on winter days when we were the only ones on the beach; sliding down sandhills; splashing about in the surf; barbecuing snapper caught off the beach; sailing boats on the estuary; jumping off rocks; walking the bush track beside the river; hunting crabs in the rock pools; heading along the shore to see the dotterel chicks hatching; living simply before the electricity and the plumbing were connected; sharing our special place with friends and family. Those happy times are distant now, but Hot Water Beach – and Jo – continue to live in our hearts. John Miller Crawford, Auckland We have great memories of Hot Water Beach. The first time I went there was 30 years ago this February, on my honeymoon. We were married in Christchurch, but spent our honeymoon in a bach at Whangamata. In those days, it was mostly a gravel road over to Hot Water Beach, and it seemed to take forever. But when we finally arrived, it was just fabulous. The quintessential Coromandel beach – pohutakawa in flower, golden sand, blue sky and good surf. But the best thing was we were the only people there that day at low tide – all the holidaymakers and children were back at work and school. We dug a heart-shaped hole, which filled up with warm water, and lay there for hours, watching the tide come in and talking about what we were going to do with our lives. Jane Potts, Christchurch
Abel Tasman National Park
In summer, the Abel Tasman track is like Queen St on a busy day. In autumn, it is bliss. We walked it in April and still managed to swim at Totaranui and at Torrent Bay. As we took our three kids, we bonded with another Kiwi family which meant the kids all walked together and tried to outdo each other. Hence, no whining. This is an easy walk, and the water taxi makes it easy to leave the car at the Marehau end. Every Kiwi family should try it. Way better than a trip to Aussie. Kate Watson, Christchurch My memories of Abel Tasman National Park are of taking a group of 15 year 10 students to walk and kayak the park starting at the Totaranui end. This group of very ‘‘city’’ kids were blown away by the natural beauty of the area, the challenge of paddling their kayaks, carrying their packs, sleeping in tents and using the long drops! This was the first time for most of them doing anything like this and I’m pleased to say it was a highlight of their time at school for more than one. Jeanette Daysh For someone who’s grown up in Nelson, the Abel Tasman is like a wondrously expansive turquoise and gold backyard and I’ve been lucky enough to have many great memories of it. One memory is a bit different to all the others though. I was visiting my friend, Sven, who worked at Awaroa Lodge. Apart from the millionaires who use helicopters, the only way to get there is by boat or foot. Sven’s method was to drive through Takaka, park as close as possible then walk across the vast inlet at low tide to Awaroa beach. Low tide is the key term here, we had mistimed it, and it was getting dark. It started off OK but it got steadily deeper, until the bottom of my pack was grazing the water. It was pitch black, the fear of the stingrays was extremely high and it started raining. We stopped and freaked out for ages, debating whether to turn back or not. I was inwardly cursing Sven’s tour-guiding abilities. Then he took a few steps forward, and joy! It got shallower with every step until we eventually reached the other side and blissful refuge. Sarah Burton I did the Abel Tasman walk in December, 2002. When I mentioned at work that I was planning to do the walk, several others asked if they could come too. It ended up with 18 women from my school’s staff doing it with me. There was a range of ages and levels of fitness but we had three great days of weather and a fabulous time. What made it especially memorable for me was that I had just found out I was pregnant for the first time (aged 43) the day before we left to do the tramp. I joke with my son, now aged nine, that he has done the Abel Tasman walk but I had to carry him the whole way. He is now ready to do it himself and I am looking forward to doing it with him this year. Mary McKnight One of New Zealand’s best kept secrets – I literally ran out of film roll on this walk, back in the days before digital cameras. Around every corner I thought I’d found the most beautiful scenery – white sand beaches, native bush and oh, the colours – and it just kept getting better! We recommend all our international guests make the effort to get up there and do this walk. I can’t wait to take our kids up there to do the walk now that they’re nearly old enough. Kim Reilly, Dunedin A fellow bridesmaid and I escaped the wedding aftermath and kayaked/walked the Abel Tasman track. The weather was glorious, the scenery breathtaking and conversation was light as we ambled along. Shortly before a rather narrow part of the track, we had been discussing the often less than six degrees of separation that seem to especially affect Kiwis travelling when I heard my name being called with some incredulity – it was a classmate from boarding school in Canada, whom I had not seen for at least 10 years! He had just arrived in New Zealand to study seal colonies, and one of them happened to be in the park. So for me, memories of the track include the sea, sun, sky, stars, seals, new friends and old, and the often extraordinary coincidences life delivers. Catherine McMurray In the mid-1980s my partner, a friend and I took our 6 and 8-yearold children by water taxi to Torrent Bay and then walked back to Marahau, camping at a beach along the way for one night. Walking out the following day our daughter was tired so I would race on ahead with my pack, deposit it by the side of the track, return to the rest of the group, carry our daughter on my shoulders till I reached my pack, put her down to walk some more, race on ahead with the pack and so on. We all have very fond memories of that trip. Last year, walking from Marahau to Awaroa a highlight was watching four young seals cavorting in the pool below the Falls River swing bridge – they move through the water with such speed, so gracefully and seemingly without effort. From the Abel Tasman Track the colours of the sea and the sand are so beautiful, the vistas are so wonderful and the swimming is just great. Chris Livesey When I was about 11 my parents took me and my three siblings (aged 13, 9 and 7) on a five-day tramp in the Abel Tasman National Park. Despite blisters, my youngest sister deciding she wasn’t going to carry anything, getting sick of boxed rice risotto and powdered mashed potato and losing our drink bottles after attempting to cool them overnight in a stream, the tramp became one of our favourite summer holidays. We still talk of it today! The time together brought on many interesting conversations and although we were well sick of each other by the end of it I think we were closer as a family by the end. Laura Clayton, Cambridge The Abel Tasman National Park holds the sparkling jewel of great walks. It is the most accessible and easiest of the walks.I have spent two summer holidays on the stunning track. The last one was camping at its best-kept secret Anapai Bay, a tiny campground framed by tropical bush, metres from golden sands. This is an idyllic location for a few days of swimming and relaxing; the surrounds are world class, no need to leave the country. A water taxi had dropped us at famed Totaranui, then it’s an undisclosed time to walk to the secret Anapai. I have done a few