Totaranui campground in the Abel Tasman National Park

I have now completed the entire Abel Tasman coastal hike. It took me a few weeks, doing different parts of the hike on different days. But I finished it. Earlier this week I had the most amazing time camping at Totaranui, which is a beach in the Abel Tasman national park. I intended to only stay for one night, but I loved it so much I stayed an extra night. And I might have stayed longer if I didn't have to work. On Sunday, I drove to the campground, which was about a 2 hour drive from Motueka. Totaranui is really the only part of the Abel Tasman park you can drive to. When I got there, the sun was beaming and it was hot (that's the way I like it!) The first thing I did was drive around the campground (which is huge) to find a good spot to set up camp. When I found my spot, I attempted to put up the tent I rented. One of my camp neighbors saw me fumbling around trying to figure out how the thing worked, and luckily came over to help me put it up. He got my tent up in just under 10 minutes, which was good because otherwise I might have been there until midnight. Totaranui is a popular Kiwi holiday spot. Alot of Kiwi families come there around this time of year and spend 10 or 11 days camping at Totaranui. And I tell ya'....they camp in style! I was really impressed and amazed by the size of these tents people had set up. Alot of them were the size of a house...no joke! I have never seen such big tents in my life. Some people had set up an extra tent just for cooking, with dining table and chairs, and some with barbecue grills. They slept on air mattresses and had space for hanging their clothes...on hangers! Alot of people brought these "hot camp shower" bags that you hang from a tree, let the sun heat up the water and you get a warm shower. I guess that's the nice thing about car camping--you can bring anything and everything! So my little tent looked kinda dinky compared to the others. :) And all I had was a sleeping bag, cold food, and some clothes stuffed into my pack. All of my camp neighbors were really friendly and offered me hot water and coffee (even though I didn't need either). The campsite was great cuz it was close to the beach, and you can hear the waves crashing on the beach as you're falling asleep and waking up. And the campsite had flushing toilets (big plus in my book!) and cold showers (better than no shower at all). There was also this small laundry room where you can hand wash your clothes in the tub, and then put them through this manual clothes dryer that squeezes all the drip out of your laundry. Below are pictures of my tent, the little inlet where my tent was set up (where you can see the size of some of the other tents), and the laundry room (which I thought was really cool, especially the gadget for drying your clothes).







So I camped at Totaranui for 2 nights. On the first day, I took the coastal walk from Totaranui down south to Awaroa. That walk wasn't much different from the other parts of the Abel Tasman walk that I had already done (from Marahau to Onetahuti Bay). On the second day, I took the coastal track from Totaranui up north to Separation Point, which I've concluded is the most magnificent part of the park. I think this is because Totaranui is the northernmost point for the water taxis to stop, and so the only way to see the park north of Totaranui is by foot or kayak. The further north I walked, the more secluded the beaches became. And alot of the walk from Totaranui to Separation Point was on the sandy beach itself (as opposed to the forest). Below are some pictures from my walk from Totaranui to Separation Point.











Separation Point was cool cuz there were a bunch of seals out there swimming in the water. And you can get really close to them. Other seals were just hangin' out on the rocks. Some of the seals liked the sun, and some liked the shade. Below are some pictures I took at Separation Point.









On Tuesday morning, I had to get up early to pack up all my stuff and get to work at the backpackers in the morning. (The tent was much easier to take down than it was to get up!) So I decided to take my muesli and powder milk (mixed with water) to the beach and watch the sunrise.