by Shawn Forno

Created on: April 06, 2010

The Abel Tasman National Park – New Zealand’s smallest national park – is by far the busiest, with a wide array of one to five day hiking, camping, and even kayaking options available for the casual to committed tramper. The largest and most popular campsite along the granite strewn sandy beaches and lush forests of the park’s Coastal Track is Anchorage Bay. It caters to every possible mode of travel with water and trail access, and taste with tent site and Hut facilities.

Setting out from Marahau – the small town at the south end of the trail where backpackers rent kayaks and gear, hire guided tours, or outfit themselves with last minute purchases, like snacks and camera batteries (for all those stunning pictures) – trampers walk 12.4 kilometers to Anchorage Bay – a roughly four hour hike. This first leg of the Track features some of the easiest parts with winding shaded paths that weave through the lush forest canopy, parting at brief moments to reveal surprising vistas of two prominent islands – Adele and Fisherman’s. The Abel Tasman is considered one of the least strenuous “Great Walks,” but is by no means a flat, easy tramp. The trail rises steeply for short sections where the granite cliffs hug the shoreline requiring trampers to rise several hundred feet above the water. Sidetracks also provide diversions to out of the way campsites and beaches in addition to “scenic view” locations situated off the main trail.

However, one of the most distinct – and important – features of the first leg of the Coastal Walk is the presence of the New Zealand Birdsong Trust – an organization formed in 2007 to help repopulate the native bird species of the Abel Tasman Park that are threatened by non-native predators like rats, possums, stoats, and other rodents. These animals feed on native bird eggs, who aren’t equipped to deal with these predators. The prominent islands – Adele and Fisherman’s – were recently declared “pest free” after volunteers scoured each for any signs of rodents. They have become important bird sanctuaries for the beautiful songbirds, like the fantail, whose populations are starting to recover. However, the introduced predators are persistent and are able to swim the short distance that separates the islands from the main peninsula, so a series of over 100 traps have been laid in a perimeter along the coast to protect

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