Today we head to Abel Tasman, which is in the NW side of the South Island. There are a bazillion places to explore here but we have our hearts set on four places: Rawhiti Caves, Wainui Falls, Harwoods Hole, and the Mussel Inn.
We take our time along the windy road as we enjoy the beautiful views and lookouts making this a 2.5-3 hour drive to get to Abel Tasman.
Hawkes Lookout
Just as we enter the Abel Tasman National Park we see a look out point called Hawkes Lookout – so we stop to check it out.
A quick 10-minute walk through a forest opens up to a rather large lookout point. Truly breathtaking views.
In the middle of nowhere we ran across a lovely fruit stand where we picked up some blueberries and apples. I couldn’t resist taking a photo of their funny tomatoes.
Our next stop is the Rawhiti Cave. It is kind of in the middle between the Wainui Falls and Harwoods Hole. They say that this is a moderate hike that should only take 45-60 minutes to get to the caves. However, I beg to differ. The first part of the hike is a lovely, flat path that runs along the dry creek. You cross over the rocky creek to the other side and that is where it goes straight up a small, muddy path (maybe 1′ wide).
The track is steep and rugged as it zig-zags along the mountain and cliffs. But we all arrive safely to one of the most marvelous caves we’ve seen.
The stalagmites were spectacular with huge curtains hanging precariously off the ceiling. We had the entire cave to ourselves as we admired the immense beauty of the Rawhiti Cave!
The way back was a wee bit easier as it was mostly downhill, but it was super slippery and muddy. My motto: slow and low paid off more times than I can count.
Wainui Falls
We left Rawhiti Caves and pointed the car toward Wainui Falls in the Takaka region of Abel Tasman. The trail to Wainui falls claims to be an “easy walk 1.5hr” walk round trip to the 20m waterfall.
On the way, we pass a field of young cows who were super curious about us. We also went under a pretty cool rock tunnel.
We were so disappointed to learn that the Wainui Falls were closed. Evidently, the last flood took out part of the trail making it unsafe.
It was fast approaching 1400 and we were super hungry so we headed to Mussel Inn, an iconic New Zealand place for green mussels. Many of you know that I am not about to eat a mussel, but it did not stop me from dragging Matt and Wayne there for lunch! Check out their cell phone memorabilia tree.
One last stop at another look out and the boys just could not give me a serious photo.
- Hotel: Beachcomber in Nelson
- Kilometers Traveled: 420km
- Total Travel Time: 2.5hrs each way
- Kilometers Walked: 6.1km
Events from this blog post occurred at the end of February. Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual events. Did you see our last blog where we flew over the valley in a Skywire?