This post is purely to keep a record of this trip for us, although anyone who chances upon it is very welcome.
Tasman
December 2025
After Golden Bay our first stop was Marahau, nestled into the foot of the Able Tasman National Park, and existing solely to serve the tourism industry based on the park. There’s no hype, just a few slightly competing business based around water taxis, with a good general store, a couple of cafes and a few camping options. We were there to catch up again with Jill’s cuzzies, Sue and Ian, and their dog, Miss Daisy.
Abel Tasman
The water taxis buzz to the bays along the track all day taking hikers to and from various sections, and The Navigator got to work. We took a taxi to Torrent Bay, walked to the Anchorage (6 km) from where I took a taxi back with a bit of seal-spotting along the way, and Jill walked the remaining 14 km. I can see why people go tramping, around here anyway where it’s fairly flat and scenic.
Harwood’s Hole
We nipped back to the top of the Takaka Hill, getting caught by the 20 minute delay through the one way roadworks. Campervans and caravans are not allowed on the 11 km road to the Hole so we parked at a lookout and had a very pleasant ride up and down a small hill, then a 2 km walk through a Tolkeinesque forest to a large pile of enormous rocks guarding the actual hole. We couldn’t get close enough to look down but I imagine that were a group of goblins at the bottom, 176 m down, gathering up the gold rings that LOTR fans would chuck down. It’s a DOC site and there are bike and hiking trails to amuse the young and agile, and a farm for sale if you really crave remote living.
Down the hill again, with a 30 minute delay this time – thank goodness for motorhomes with tea-making and toilets. We stayed at Riwaka in a very well set up POP, The Big Shed, where the owners had built themselves a enviably huge dutch barn with their house on one side, and on the other a very tidy ablutions block on the other side where we parked under a stunning sky.
Max elevation: 885 m
Min elevation: 656 m
Total climbing: 606 m
Total descent: -591 m
Total time: 03:56:55
Resurgences
You have to admire the literary pluck of a surveyor naming a spring a “resurgence”, but the Riuwaka River starts with two of them. I read later they use the term a lot in karst country where it’s quite common for a river to disappear for a while.
We biked there from Motueka, following the Great Taste Trail to Kaiteriteri, a favourite spot of a lot of people judging by the expensive homes and vast camping area, and it’s also a centre for Abel Tasman activities. The trail is a very easy, well maintained family focused route, but the last part into Kaiteriteri took us through an easy section of the MTB park, fun but just bumpy enough to trigger my recently sprained elbow which made me whimper audibly. We paused for an excellent coffee and pie while the pills kicked in then went hunting for resurgences.
The resurgences are not as pristinely clean as they were even ten years ago according the the locals, the once-fabled purest water in the country now bubbling up over slime covered rocks, but that didn’t stop a group doing manu into the icy cold pool. It’s a cool spot, with good bush and nicely maintained paths without woke railings.
Max elevation: 112 m
Min elevation: -2 m
Total climbing: 655 m
Total descent: -659 m
Total time: 05:48:40
Tapawera
The Great Taste Trail does a big loop around the back of Nelson, but sections had been badly damaged by the great floods 3 years ago and are still being repaired. The Spooner Tunnel has only recently been made accessible, but only from the East, so we went out to the charming and slightly feral Tapawera Cycle Trail Campground run by the delightful Julie. We shared the grounds with her dog, an enormous unsheared sheep and a large goat.
The trail runs right beside the camp, and it’s probably not the most interesting part of it, but the tunnel, the longest bike able tunnel in the Southern Hemisphere at 1352 m long, made it worthwhile.We did another section the other way to the top of Baton Pass, passing too many hop farms before the small bushy hill climb.
The next day we parked at Woodstock triggering a 1970’s earworm (thank you Joni Mitchell), and biked up the Baton River to almost where we left off yesterday, discovering Lublows Leap Store & Museum, a biker’s dream.
From the official website:
Heading along the remote Baton Valley Road, you will find farmland with a cyclist rest stop. It is operated by Richard and Fiona Lublow who have a long history with the farm, dating back to 1906.
Today there is on-farm accommodation plus a shed and museum where people can learn about the history of the Baton Valley. The idea of the shed is to provide a stop for the cyclists – they can jump on the Wi-Fi, as this is the most remote part of the trail and there’s no mobile coverage.
Cyclists can also fill up their water bottles, buy ice cream, make a cup of tea and read about the area’s history. The shop runs on an honesty system and is unmanned, it has Eftpos and a cash box.
We drove over to Mapua where we stayed at the Mapua Leisure Park, once famous as a nudist resort, now unclothed only in February and March, but when Jill stayed here decades ago she remembered there was plenty of skin to be seen. The legendary fish ‘n’ chips on the wharf are as perfect as ever, but there are now loads of boutique stores as well.
Max elevation: 344 m
Min elevation: 120 m
Total climbing: 801 m
Total descent: -803 m
Total time: 07:01:56
Baton River
Max elevation: 184 m
Min elevation: 78 m
Total climbing: 345 m
Total descent: -341 m
Total time: 02:00:21
Mapua
Just a quick ride on more of the Great Taste trail to Motueka for coffee at the apparently famous Toad Hall. No photos.
Max elevation: 125 m
Min elevation: 3 m
Total climbing: 697 m
Total descent: -701 m
Total time: 05:01:37
Cable Bay
Through Nelson with a brief pause for Christmas shopping – what a ghastly season this really is – and along to Cable Bay, named for it being the site of the first trans-Tasman cable connecting NZ to thee world. Messages could be sent to Britain in only 4 days for as little as 1 shilling and ninepence – $30 when adjusted for inflation today. The nearby Pepin Island is connected by a tombolo and the shallow bay surrounding it is covered only briefly by a high tide. We biked around it as far as we could to Maori PA, finding an interesting reserve, Paramata, but no information as to why the ethnicity of the pa had to be so carefully defined.
Max elevation: 34 m
Min elevation: 3 m
Total climbing: 137 m
Total descent: -144 m
Total time: 01:41:35
