Abel Tasman Walk, NZ, Part 2
http://www.doc.govt.nz/abeltasmantrack
https://www.newzealand.com/au/feature/abel-tasman-coast-track/
This article and accompanying video deal with the second day of the 4-day Abel Tasman Walk. This was my favourite day, being chock-a-block with stunning scenery such as crystal clear topaz-coloured lakes and incredible wildlife such as NZ's only native owl, the morepork. The beautiful weather helped too.
For general information on the walk, see Abel Tasman Walk, Part 1.
About this video
This video only deals with the second day of our 4-day trek, walking from Anchorage Hut to Bark Bay Hut (15 kilometres or 9 miles). Note you can walk even further by doing the side trips.
High tide route
The walk is shorter if you time your trip to do the low tide rather than high tide route, as you walk straight across the beach to Torrent Bay and it takes about 1 1/2 hours less. However, by doing that you miss out on the stunning scenery and many wildlife viewing opportunities the high tide route offers. The stunning scenery consists of native plants such as mosses, flowering plants and ferns, and birds - we were lucky enough to see fantails, bellbirds, wekas, a morepork owl and a little shag - crystal clear topaz waters and beautiful woodland. There are also stunning coastal views.
This splendour made this the best day of the walk for me.
Cleopatra's Pool
As if this day is not already perfect enough, Cleopatra's Pool is a natural swimming hole with a small waterfall, which is very pretty.
Wekas hang around waiting to steal your food if you leave it unguarded while you're having a swim. One little chap tried to take our bag of nuts.
Torrent Bay
Torrent Bay is a popular lunch spot. The village is 'private', that is, you must walk around it but as there are no services or cafes for tourists it doesn't matter anyway. The coastal fringe is open to all and is a lovely place to eat your lunch while looking at the seabirds and kayaks on the water.
Falls Swing Bridge
The long swing bridge over Falls River is a lot of fun to cross, though you can start looking like a drunkard as you try and find your balance and your step on the swaying surface.
Bark Bay Hut
Although Bark Bay is not as pleasantly situated or as spacious as Anchorage Hut, it's perfectly adequate. The cold shower is more private than the one at Anchorage but also attracts more sandflies.
If you are getting water taxis to transport your bags from hut to hut, it is about a ten minute walk from the beach where your bags will be left to Bark Bay Hut through pretty woodland.
We will show the final video of the walk (Part 3) soon so you get the whole picture, and will then publish the entire footage as a longer video on our maddestinations youtube site.
Birds we saw
Here is information about the lovely birds we saw on Day 2 of this walk.
Black-backed gull Larus dominicanus
This gull is the largest of three gulls found in New Zealand. This bird will take eggs from other ground-nesting birds and when eating shellfish, will drop them from a height to break them open.
Young black-backed gulls look very different from the adults. They are a speckled brown and white colour whereas adults have large yellow beaks and are black and white. Both adults and young birds are featured in this video.
New Zealand fantail (pied morph) Rhipidura fuliginosa
The light brown and yellow fantail (pied morph) is a lovely endemic bird found throughout the country.
Fantails can come close to humans as they disturb insects the birds eat. They feed on insects, grubs and spiders, catching moths and flies on the wing, hence their flitting behaviour.
Chicks leave the nest after a fortnight and perch together on a branch where they are fed by both parents.
NZ bellbird Anthornis melanura
Bellbirds are honeyeaters with a lovely song. They have a long tongue which enables them to dig into flowers to reach nectar, pollinating the flowers of many native trees and shrubs. They also eat fruit and disperse the seeds, so they doubly help regenerate the forest.
Bellbirds are busy birds flitting round trees for insects and other food, making them difficult to video or photograph, so we were lucky to catch the female in this video.
They are monogamous, building woven nests under dense vegetation cover, where the female lays 3 to 5 eggs in breeding season from September to January.
Morepork owl Ninox novaeseelandiae
New Zealand's only native owl, the morepork is named after their call which sounds like 'more pork' to Westerners. The Māori people's name for the owl is ruru, also named after their melancholic call.
It is the only owl in New Zealand to live in forests where it nests in tree hollows and feeds on large insects, small birds and small mammals. In turn, it is preyed on by introduced stoats and native birds of prey.
Like most owls, morepork owls hunt by night and hide during the day in tree cavities or dense vegetation, where we found the owl in this video. They are very handsome birds with huge golden eyes and feet, and fluffy speckled feathers.
Chicks are born blind so are fed by the parents who tear food into small portions and feed them.
Little shag Phalacrocorax melanoleucos or Microcarbo melanoleucos
The little shag or little pied cormorant has had its latin name recently changed to Microcarbo (old name in video).
This waterbird generally hunts alone rather than in packs. They dive for their food, preferring shallow water, and stay underwater for only 15 to 20 seconds. They eat fish, eels and crustaceans with chicks being fed regurgitated food.
Because they can leave food for a short time on the water's surface before eating it, gulls can steal their catch.
Weka Gallirallus Australis
Wekas are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. They are fast runners and despite not having webbed feet, strong swimmers. They are rare on the North Island due to predation from stoats but common in South Island national parks and on islands where traps have been set for their predators, or where predators are absent.
Cheeky and opportunistic, wekas will steal food from trekkers as well as taking eggs and chicks from other birds' nests. They also catch mice, lizards and insects and eat fruit, leaves and seeds.
Wekas are attentive parents and will share their food with their chicks, crumbling it into tiny pieces their chicks can digest (which you can see on this video).
New Zealand fantail (black morph) Rhipidura fuliginosa
The black fantail (black morph) is a lovely endemic bird found mainly on the South Island. With the same habits as the pied morph, these two types of fantails can breed with chicks being of either type, though the pied morph is dominant.
Black fantails are very rare on the North Island as the dominant pied morph will pick on and harass them, but make up to 25% of the population on the South Island.
Black fantails are very rare on the North Island as the dominant pied morph will pick on and harass them, but make up to 25% of the population on the South Island.
Just want to do this part of the walk?
Get up early, get a water taxi to Anchorage, walk to Bark Bay and get picked up at the other end to be transported back to Marahau. You can also get a taxi to and from Torrent Bay.
Do you have questions or comments about this article? Email maddestinations@gmail.com or leave a comment under the video.
