MY FAVOURITE TRAMP
Time 3-5 days
Distance 60km
Grade Easy
IT’S NOT EASY TO CHOOSE FAVOURITES.
In fact, I was nervous to even ask the question: ‘What’s your favourite tramp?’
When you’ve walked hundreds of tracks – as some of these contributors have – how can you possibly single out just one?
For me, choosing a favourite tramp wasn’t too difficult, but my tramping CV is hardly impressive.
I’ve always been a beach bum at heart.
While mainland kids were outgrowing their ski boots, I was slipping into my next pair of hand-me-down flippers to snorkel the warm waters of Northland.
Although I’ve grown to love mountains, they’ve never felt like home the way the ocean does – I didn’t get to tramp in the South Island until my late teens.
I’ll agree the Alps are unbeatable in their majesty, but to me, mountains are lonely, inhospitable places where mother nature always feels on the verge of hostility. Humans simply don’t belong there.
I guess it’s no surprise then that my favourite tramp incorporates my love of the ocean and forest, and no tramp does that better than the Abel Tasman Coast Track.
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Where my childhood beaches of Northland have largely been cleared for campgrounds, homes or farming, Abel Tasman is like looking back in time.
The forest grows right down to the shore, spilling its leaves onto the shells and sand.
It’s the meeting of two worlds, green and blue, separated only by the park’s iconic peach sand.
Weka waddle with oyster-catchers, pīwakawaka flit anxiously beside floating gulls. The water’s surface is frequently broken by fish, seals and dolphins.
Since first visiting the park in 2015, I’ve walked overnight sections of the track four times, and completed it twice.
It doesn’t hurt that my visits have been blessed with perfect weather, but honestly, it’s just a hard spot to beat.
When I close my eyes, I can walk the track by memory, ticking off the beaches, swingbridges and waterfalls as I go.
It’s as close as you can get to a tramper’s holiday.
On the track, you can completely relax. The biggest threats here are sunburn, weka and
