Nelson to Wharariki, Abel Tasman NP, New Zealand

The Maori coastline on which Europeans landed


sea ​​route
Speedboat travels along the bluish green coastline of PN Abel Tasman, in the north of the South Island of New Zealand.
peaceful ponds
Patches from the seashore, on the mare? empty. PN Abel Tasman
fertile valley
A green valley in the Nelson region, south of PN Abel Tasman.
of alert
Sheep inspects the outsiders who invade her grassy domains.
vegetable heaven
Large arboreal fern on a trail at PN Abel Tasman
the last curve
Meander of the Wharakiri Stream, on the eminence of the homonymous beach and the northern threshold of the South Island of New Zealand.
on the way to the sea
Kayaks in PN Abel Tasman's shallow creek.
More than it's worth
Sheep, dracena and a flake of cloud crest a steep hillock on the eminence of Wharakiri Beach.
lagoon of the gods
Te Waikoropupu: springs and pond that the Maori have long considered sacred.
Life for 2
The grilled and privileged animal life of the springs and lake of Te Waikoropupu, in the vicinity of Takaka.
a sheep green
Rolling meadows dotted with sheep and dragon palms, just off Wharakiri Beach and the northern edge of the South Island.
golden sand
Golden Bay beach, close to PN Abel Tasman and the cove where the Dutch navigator of the same name first anchored in New Zealand.
a sloping meadow
Herd dispersed on "stolen" pasture terraces a? endemic forest.
a bridge with a view
Hikers cross a suspension bridge from PN Abel Tasman.
from the top to the sea
Meadow-covered strands precede lowland forest and Tasman Bay, in the northeast of the South Island.
plant kingdom, animal kingdom
Herd of sheep share a grassy slope of Wharakiri with a dracena palm (cabbage tree).
Pasto
Weeded redoubt taken from the tree forest manuka indigenous to these parts of the South Island.
Abel Janszoon Tasman explored more of the newly mapped and mythical "Terra australis" when a mistake soured the contact with natives of an unknown island. The episode inaugurated the colonial history of the New Zealand. Today, both the divine coast on which the episode took place and the surrounding seas evoke the Dutch navigator.

Sheltered from the winds and cold fronts by the mountains that protrude from the top of the South Island, the Nelson region enjoys more hours of sunshine than any other part of the island. New Zealand.

And it's almost all sunshine as we explore Nelson's alleys and as we travel along Route 60, aimed at Takaka and then at the sharp northern edge of Te Wai Pounamu (Emerald Waters), so the Maori treat the lower half of the kiwi nation.

A few kilometers outside the suburban area, the scenery is already as bucolic as one would expect. Wide valleys follow, lined with an almost fluorescent green pasture and bordered by forested slopes full of furrows.

Tasman Bay Scenery, New Zealand

Meadow-covered strands precede lowland forest and Tasman Bay, in the northeast of the South Island.

When the route approaches Tasman Bay, it reveals other of those furrows, inverted, that unroll down to the calm ocean. Two hours later, we arrived in Puponga.

Meeting the North Threshold of the South Island

To the east extends the Farewell Spit, a spit of sand that encloses Golden Bay and, by the way, New Zealand South Island. We leave 60 for Wharariki Road.

We started to wind in the opposite direction and heading north, between hills now covered by a low forest of trees manuka why, in which this dense undergrowth was sacrificed to the grass that also feeds the ovine army of the New Zealand.

the last curve

Meander of the Wharakiri Stream, on the eminence of the homonymous beach and the northern threshold of the South Island of New Zealand.

We follow the brownish flow of the Wharariki Stream through meanders and whimsical horseshoes. On one side and the other, the herds graze balanced on slopes cut by fences from which, at intervals, there are mini-groves of dracena palms and some of these cabbage trees lonely.

By that time, Wharariki Road had lined up with the northern coast. A café and a car park announce the detour to the homonymous beach.

Dragon palm and sheep in Wharakiri, New Zealand.

Herd of sheep share a grassy slope of Wharakiri with a dracena palm (cabbage tree)

The Way to the Vast Tasman Sea

We continue on foot, guided by the creek, until the trail opens onto a stronghold of white dunes and reveals a beach as far as the eye can see.

We climb the dunes. In a flash, the breeze that once flowed lightly between the hills turns into a raging gale. We see the dry sand flying at great speed and covering the sand compacted by the low tide in a grainy mist.

The Sea Retreat granted temporary access to such a trio of Archway Islands. We advanced towards it but we could barely control our steps. We felt our faces lashed by the stray sand and by the spray of the waves that spread, violent, and twisted to the east by the mad ones westerlies.

We surrender to the aggressiveness of the atmosphere. We only peeked an intriguing nook or two among the great Archway boulders, after which we retreated to the shelter where the car had been.

Lost in lonely antipodes, the New Zealand it has always been subject to the harshness of the (little) Pacific ocean and agents in general. When they glimpsed it and began to explore, European navigators went through successive afflictions.

fertile valley

A green valley in the Nelson region, south of PN Abel Tasman.

As it had already happened on the southern edge of Africa, they skirted the peninsulas, the capes, all the adversities until they brought their discoverers and colonizers to good port.

Abel Tasman, the Dutchman who got ahead of the competition, did it exactly where we were going. Tasman left Batavia (now Jakarta) in 1642. He passed through the island Mauritius and discovered the Tasmania. He proceeded east.

A Troubled Encounter

He saw the coast of the South Island, which he will have followed until confronting the imposing Southern Alps and returned to “ascend” to the latitude of Cape Farewell, to the north. Rounded it and to the top of the South Island.

On the east side, he found the calm sea of ​​the Golden Bay. There he detected a series of bonfires and smoke indicating the presence of indigenous people from the Maori Ngati Tumatakokiri tribe.

Coastline of PN Abel Tasman, New Zealand

Speedboat travels along the bluish green coastline of PN Abel Tasman, in the north of the South Island of New Zealand.

When the sun rose again, Tasman sent support boats in search of a better anchorage and a place to get water. It re-anchored in an inlet now called Wainui Inlet, at the southern end of Golden Bay.

In this process, the Maori followed the movements of the newcomers and sought to ascertain the extent to which they represented a threat.

Finally, they sent one of their canoes to meet the outsiders. In his logbook, Tasman recounts what happened then: “a warrior blew an instrument several times and we sent our sailors back to play music for them”. You Maori they would not, however, be disposed to a musical duel.

The sounds they emitted to the Dutch would have the purpose of driving them away. The indigenous people would believe that those white beings would be patupaiarehe, mythological ghosts that would lead women and children to them.

Steep meadows by Wharakiri Beach, New Zealand

Rolling meadows dotted with sheep and dracena palms, just off Wharakiri Beach and the northern edge of the South Island

The Mythological Version for the Confrontation

Other interpretations argue that Tasman anchored precisely in the cove where the cave of a taniwha Maori, an imaginary reptilian monster that the tribe feared the whites would awaken. Given these anxieties, the response of Tasman and his men turned out to be inappropriate.

More Maori joined the first. Reinforced, they finally challenged the foreigners. Afraid of losing control of the situation, Tasman ordered a pre-emptive cannon fire.

The rumbling startled and drove the Maori to land. The next day, the Maori returned in force and confronted the Dutch, probably with an intense haka. Tasman will have interpreted that it was a reception ceremony.

After the Maori returned to land, he ordered the sailors to bring the ships closer to the coast. But before they did, a Maori canoe forced a collision with a Dutch dinghy. A native warrior struck one of the crew in the neck with a long spear and sent him overboard.

Fetus at PN Abel Tasman, New Zealand

Large arboreal fern on a trail at PN Abel Tasman

Four other sailors were killed, the body of one dragged into one of the waka canoes. The sailors responded with musket fire and other weapons.

Finally, convinced that he was not welcome there, Tasman ordered the retreat. Disillusioned, he named the place the Bay of Assassins and noted that “the meeting should teach them to consider the inhabitants of those lands enemies”.

The Competing Legacies of Tasman and the Maori

Tasman continued east. It anchored in the current Tonga archipelago. The Maori only saw other Westerners more than a hundred years later, between 1769 and 1770, in this case, the unavoidable Captain Cook and his men aboard the HM Bark Endeavor. Unlike the Dutch, the British would come back to stay.

As a pioneer, Tasman maintained the honor of several baptisms in the area: the Tasman Sea. Tasman Bay, just below the Wainui Inlet where the confrontation with the Maori took place.

 

PN Abel Tasman Beach, New Zealand

Golden Bay beach, close to PN Abel Tasman and the cove where the Dutch navigator of the same name first anchored in New Zealand.

Also the stunning Abel Tasman National Park which we soon set out to explore. We return to Route 60 and the imminence of Golden Bay. We skirt the broad Ruataniwha Inlet, cross the Aorere River, always through a patchwork of alluvial and rural patches of various shades of green. We passed through Parapara, Onekaka and Puramahoi.

The succession of settlements with Maori names attests to the historical predominance of the indigenous people and the respect that, in more recent times, the post-colonial authorities of the New Zealand they won to their owners.

We arrived in Takaka in time to settle in and take a walk as short as the village, perhaps a little bigger than Coriscada, the village in the district of Guarda, its antipode.

The next morning, breakfast dispatched very early, we go to PN Abel Tasman. We drive to Kaiteriteri. There we take a boat from the park that reveals the vagaries of the coast to the jagged cove of Anchorage, under the suspicious gaze of countless cormorants.

Cove after Cove, PN Abel Tasman into

From there, we take the trail that winds through that coastal domain, attentive to the retraction and advance of the sea in its successive contours. The coast of PN Abel Tasman has the most pronounced tides in the whole New Zealand. So that hikers do not end up trapped, they are required to pay extra attention. Some of the sands are golden like we didn't think was possible.

PN Abel Tasman, New Zealand

Patches of waterfront, at low tide. PN Abel Tasman.

They give full credit to the christening of the Golden Bay above, the one that Tasman was forced to retreat. The sea that caresses them has an emerald green hue that seems to make the sand even more golden. Inland, the ups and downs of the trail reveal incredible colonies of arboreal ferns, several, with crowns high above our heads.

Suspension bridges cross deep gorges, some of them streams of inlets that the high tide fills in at a glance. Here and there, we went back down from the forest to sea level. We pass by lagoons and natural pools that entice us to go back to diving.

Suspension bridge over PN Abel Tasman

Hikers cross a suspension bridge from PN Abel Tasman.

This is the case of Frenchman Bay, a comma-shaped inlet surrounded by leafy vegetation that alternates between the white of the drained sandy bed and a soft emerald green that, little by little, the entrance of more dense water. Six hours and 20 km later, we enter Awaroa Bay. We return to the boat that brings us back to Kaiteriteri and to the car. We recover energy.

The Mythological Springs of Te Waikoropupu

With some time to spare, intrigued as to what made the Te Waikoropupu springs so famous, we traveled to their enigmatic freshwater realm. As happened along the PN Abel Tasman, we find ourselves again surrounded by dense forest.

When we reached the end of the new trail, we climbed onto a wooden balcony. The view around us surprises us again. Eight subterranean fountains kept overflowing an enormous blue lagoon delimited by the very green base of the grove.

Te Waikoropupu Spring and Pond, New Zealand

Te Waikoropupu: springs and pond that the Maori have long considered sacred.

Its flow was so translucent that, like an aquarium, it allowed us to appreciate the smallest rocky, sandy or vegetable details of the bed.

Visibility measurements carried out determined that it reached 63 meters, just behind another subglacial lagoon in Antarctica.

Some wild ducks there swam and splashed about, we wanted to believe that with doubled pleasure.

Ducks in the pond of Te Waikoropupu, near Takaka.

The grilled and privileged animal life of the springs and lake of Te Waikoropupu, in the vicinity of Takaka.

As happens in the Wainui Inlet cave where Abel Tasman landed at a bad time, according to the Maoris, this crystalline lake is also frequented by a taniwha.

Huriawa is, in fact, one of the top three taniwhas of Aotearoa (the Maori term for the New Zealand), a diver from the depths of the Earth and the sea, who makes her way of life unlock channels from the deep.

The natives believe that it is in the sacred waters of Te Waikoropupu that it rests from its frenetic activity.

With the day about to end, we decided to be inspired by mythology. We sat on one of the balconies and listened to the muffled bubbling of the springs, the chirping of birdsong and the hissing of the breeze in the vegetation. Abel Tasman unveiled these Maori stops to Westerners nearly four centuries ago. After all this time, Aotearoa welcomes and rewards outsiders as Tasman never dreamed possible.

More information about this region of New Zealand Site 100% New Zealand

Wanaka, New Zealand

The Antipodes Great Outdoors

If New Zealand is known for its tranquility and intimacy with Nature, Wanaka exceeds any imagination. Located in an idyllic setting between the homonymous lake and the mystic Mount Aspiring, it became a place of worship. Many kiwis aspire to change their lives there.
North Island, New Zealand

Journey along the Path of Maority

New Zealand is one of the countries where the descendants of settlers and natives most respect each other. As we explored its northern island, we became aware of the interethnic maturation of this very old nation. Commonwealth as Maori and Polynesia.
Banks Peninsula, New Zealand

The Divine Earth Shard of the Banks Peninsula

Seen from the air, the most obvious bulge on the South Island's east coast appears to have imploded again and again. Volcanic but verdant and bucolic, the Banks Peninsula confines in its almost cogwheel geomorphology the essence of the ever enviable New Zealand life.
napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s - Calhambeque Tour

In a city rebuilt in Art Deco and with an atmosphere of the "crazy years" and beyond, the adequate means of transportation are the elegant classic automobiles of that era. In Napier, they are everywhere.
Christchurch, New Zealand

New Zealand's Cursed Wizard

Despite his notoriety in the antipodes, Ian Channell, the New Zealand sorcerer, failed to predict or prevent several earthquakes that struck Christchurch. At the age of 88, after 23 years of contract with the city, he made very controversial statements and ended up fired.
Tongariro, New Zealand

The Volcanoes of All Discords

In the late XNUMXth century, an indigenous chief ceded the PN Tongariro volcanoes to the British crown. Today, a significant part of the Maori people claim their mountains of fire from European settlers.
New Zealand  

When Counting Sheep causes Sleep Loss

20 years ago, New Zealand had 18 sheep per inhabitant. For political and economic reasons, the average was halved. In the antipodes, many breeders are worried about their future.
Mount cook, New Zealand

The Cloud Piercer Mountain

Aoraki/Mount Cook may fall far short of the world's roof but it is New Zealand's highest and most imposing mountain.
Napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s

Devastated by an earthquake, Napier was rebuilt in an almost ground-floor Art Deco and lives pretending to stop in the Thirties. Its visitors surrender to the Great Gatsby atmosphere that the city enacts.
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
Serengeti, Great Savannah Migration, Tanzania, wildebeest on river
Safari
Serengeti NP, Tanzania

The Great Migration of the Endless Savanna

In these prairies that the Masai people say syringet (run forever), millions of wildebeests and other herbivores chase the rains. For predators, their arrival and that of the monsoon are the same salvation.
Thorong La, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, photo for posterity
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 13th - High camp a Thorong La to Muktinath, Nepal

At the height of the Annapurnas Circuit

At 5416m of altitude, the Thorong La Gorge is the great challenge and the main cause of anxiety on the itinerary. After having killed 2014 climbers in October 29, crossing it safely generates a relief worthy of double celebration.
Bay Watch cabin, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,
Architecture & Design
Miami beach, USA

The Beach of All Vanities

Few coasts concentrate, at the same time, so much heat and displays of fame, wealth and glory. Located in the extreme southeast of the USA, Miami Beach is accessible via six bridges that connect it to the rest of Florida. It is meager for the number of souls who desire it.
Adventure
Volcanoes

Mountains of Fire

More or less prominent ruptures in the earth's crust, volcanoes can prove to be as exuberant as they are capricious. Some of its eruptions are gentle, others prove annihilating.
shadow of success
Ceremonies and Festivities
Champoton, Mexico

Rodeo Under Sombreros

Champoton, in Campeche, hosts a fair honored by the Virgén de La Concepción. O rodeo Mexican under local sombreros reveals the elegance and skill of the region's cowboys.
Sydney, Australia's exemplary criminal city, Harbor Bridge
Cities
Sydney, Australia

From the Exile of Criminals to an Exemplary City

The first of the Australian colonies was built by exiled inmates. Today, Sydney's Aussies boast former convicts of their family tree and pride themselves on the cosmopolitan prosperity of the megalopolis they inhabit.
Cocoa, Chocolate, Sao Tome Principe, Agua Izé farm
Meal
São Tomé and Principe

Cocoa Roças, Corallo and the Chocolate Factory

At the beginning of the century. In the XNUMXth century, São Tomé and Príncipe generated more cocoa than any other territory. Thanks to the dedication of some entrepreneurs, production survives and the two islands taste like the best chocolate.
mini-snorkeling
Culture
Phi Phi Islands, Thailand

Back to Danny Boyle's The Beach

It's been 15 years since the debut of the backpacker classic based on the novel by Alex Garland. The film popularized the places where it was shot. Shortly thereafter, the XNUMX tsunami literally washed some away off the map. Today, their controversial fame remains intact.
Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Sport
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
Aswan, Egypt, Nile River meets Black Africa, Elephantine Island
Traveling
Aswan, Egypt

Where the Nile Welcomes the Black Africa

1200km upstream of its delta, the Nile is no longer navigable. The last of the great Egyptian cities marks the fusion between Arab and Nubian territory. Since its origins in Lake Victoria, the river has given life to countless African peoples with dark complexions.
Efate, Vanuatu, transshipment to "Congoola/Lady of the Seas"
Ethnic
Efate, Vanuatu

The Island that Survived “Survivor”

Much of Vanuatu lives in a blessed post-savage state. Maybe for this, reality shows in which aspirants compete Robinson Crusoes they settled one after the other on their most accessible and notorious island. Already somewhat stunned by the phenomenon of conventional tourism, Efate also had to resist them.
Rainbow in the Grand Canyon, an example of prodigious photographic light
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 1)

And Light was made on Earth. Know how to use it.

The theme of light in photography is inexhaustible. In this article, we give you some basic notions about your behavior, to start with, just and only in terms of geolocation, the time of day and the time of year.
Palace of Knossos, Crete, Greece
History
Iraklio, CreteGreece

From Minos to Minus

We arrived in Iraklio and, as far as big cities are concerned, Greece stops there. As for history and mythology, the capital of Crete branches without end. Minos, son of Europa, had both his palace and the labyrinth in which the minotaur closed. The Arabs, the Byzantines, the Venetians and the Ottomans passed through Iraklio. The Greeks who inhabit it fail to appreciate it.
Ruins, Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia
Islands
Discovering Tassie, Part 2 - Hobart to Port Arthur, Australia

An Island Doomed to Crime

The prison complex at Port Arthur has always frightened the British outcasts. 90 years after its closure, a heinous crime committed there forced Tasmania to return to its darkest times.
coast, fjord, Seydisfjordur, Iceland
Winter White
Seydisfjordur, Iceland

From the Art of Fishing to the Fishing of Art

When shipowners from Reykjavik bought the Seydisfjordur fishing fleet, the village had to adapt. Today, it captures Dieter Roth's art disciples and other bohemian and creative souls.
shadow vs light
Literature
Kyoto, Japan

The Kyoto Temple Reborn from the Ashes

The Golden Pavilion has been spared destruction several times throughout history, including that of US-dropped bombs, but it did not withstand the mental disturbance of Hayashi Yoken. When we admired him, he looked like never before.
Refreshing bath at the Blue-hole in Matevulu.
Nature
Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

The Mysterious Blue Holes of Espiritu Santo

Humanity recently rejoiced with the first photograph of a black hole. In response, we decided to celebrate the best we have here on Earth. This article is dedicated to blue holes from one of Vanuatu's blessed islands.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Train Kuranda train, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Natural Parks
Cairns-Kuranda, Australia

Train to the Middle of the Jungle

Built out of Cairns to save miners isolated in the rainforest from starvation by flooding, the Kuranda Railway eventually became the livelihood of hundreds of alternative Aussies.
holy plain, Bagan, Myanmar
UNESCO World Heritage
Bagan, Myanmar

The Plain of Pagodas, Temples and other Heavenly Redemptions

Burmese religiosity has always been based on a commitment to redemption. In Bagan, wealthy and fearful believers continue to erect pagodas in hopes of winning the benevolence of the gods.
Correspondence verification
Characters
Rovaniemi, Finland

From the Finnish Lapland to the Arctic. A Visit to the Land of Santa

Fed up with waiting for the bearded old man to descend down the chimney, we reverse the story. We took advantage of a trip to Finnish Lapland and passed through its furtive home.
Balo Beach Crete, Greece, Balos Island
Beaches
balos a Seitan Limani, Crete, Greece

The Bathing Olympus of Chania

It's not just Chania, the centuries-old polis, steeped in Mediterranean history, in the far northeast of Crete that dazzles. Refreshing it and its residents and visitors, Balos, Stavros and Seitan have three of the most exuberant coastlines in Greece.

Composition on Nine Arches Bridge, Ella, Sri Lanka
Religion
Yala NPElla-Kandy, Sri Lanka

Journey Through Sri Lanka's Tea Core

We leave the seafront of PN Yala towards Ella. On the way to Nanu Oya, we wind on rails through the jungle, among plantations in the famous Ceylon. Three hours later, again by car, we enter Kandy, the Buddhist capital that the Portuguese never managed to dominate.
Executives sleep subway seat, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan
On Rails
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Hypno-Passengers

Japan is served by millions of executives slaughtered with infernal work rates and sparse vacations. Every minute of respite on the way to work or home serves them for their inemuri, napping in public.
young saleswoman, nation, bread, uzbekistan
Society
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
Fruit sellers, Swarm, Mozambique
Daily life
Enxame Mozambique

Mozambican Fashion Service Area

It is repeated at almost all stops in towns of Mozambique worthy of appearing on maps. The machimbombo (bus) stops and is surrounded by a crowd of eager "businessmen". The products offered can be universal such as water or biscuits or typical of the area. In this region, a few kilometers from Nampula, fruit sales suceeded, in each and every case, quite intense.
Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, Masai Convivial
Wildlife
Masai Mara, Kenya

A Journey Through the Masai Lands

The Mara savannah became famous for the confrontation between millions of herbivores and their predators. But, in a reckless communion with wildlife, it is the Masai humans who stand out there.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.