On our last day of our trip to Abel Tasman, we woke up early so that we could cross the last estuary before the car park at low tide. While we did have to get a little wet and sandy, it was much better than it would have been a couple hours later and I was able to wear flip flops so that my feet hurt much less.
After getting across the estuary, we only had a few hundred meters to walk to the car, and from there we drove to our next stop on the list, Rawhiti Cave. This was a quick stop nearby that Bryn had found online, so we decided to check it out. Even Thomas had never been there before, so we didn’t really know what to expect. At first, the trail ran next to a dry riverbed and was relatively flat and we were able to walk pretty quickly and easily since we weren’t carrying our heavy packs. But, soon it started getting pretty steep so we all were a little discouraged after walking for a little while.
After about 30 minutes or so, we reached the cave and it was totally worth the steep hike. There were stairs and a platform built down a little ways into the cave and you couldn’t go beyond that, but the entire cave was full of dripping stalactites and stalagmites. A sign told us that they are phytokarst, which is a “a phenomenon where plants and calcium work together to ‘grow’ stalactites and stalagmites.”
We took a few minutes to appreciate the incredible cave and take pictures, and then headed back down the steep trail to the car. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as hard going down as I had imagined, although there were a few slips along the way. We then got in the car and drove to the closest town, Takaka.
In Takaka, we stopped at a cute café to get some food for brunch, since it was still the morning. Then, we started to head in the direction back towards Christchurch, although we were going to go along the coast this time so we could stop at a couple places along the way. First, we reached Nelson, a bigger town where we were hoping to get fish and chips for a late lunch. Unfortunately, the three shops we tried were all closed between 2 and 4, so we ended up getting pizza instead.
After driving for a couple more hours, we reached Kaikoura and ended up stopping there so some of us could get fish and chips or, in my case, ice cream for dinner. After Kaikoura, it was just three hours back to Christchurch and almost everyone fell asleep. This road trip definitely tired us all out, but was really fun and a great way to see Abel Tasman. Not only was I glad to see this amazing part of New Zealand, but the people I was with made it so much fun, even with the camping and wading across estuaries (not my favorite activities). It’s sad that everyone is leaving to go home soon, so it was awesome to have some great last memories with these great friends.
The Abel Tasman Crew (from left to right: Thomas, Maia, me, Bryn, Kaelyn, Brian)
Hammond Adventures 