Several companies run aqua taxis, a really cool service. You find a day hike you want to do, and then arrange for the aqua taxi to take you to the drop-off point, and pick you up at your selected location. We decided on a hike from Big Tonga Beach (Onetahuti Beach) to Anchorage.
Split Apple Boulder
Beach at Anchorage
We climbed in the boat, and were towed down the street by a tractor, eventually setting us into the water. The taxi driver first went south, pointing out some scenic spots. First was the beach, covered with a fine golden-brown sand. The color was due to iron oxide (i.e. rust) and the erosion of the rocks. He also pointed out a large boulder in the water which was split in half, called appropriately "split apple boulder". The Maori legend about the boulder is: the land god and Tangaroa (the sea god) were arguing over who owned the boulder. Then the tide was out, it was on the land god's domain. When the tide was in, the sea god claimed ownership. They fought and one threw a spear at the other, striking the boulder and splitting it in half.
Cliffs
Blue water through the trees
The taxi then headed north along the coast, and eventually dropped us off at Big Tonga beach. From there, we made our way along the very well maintained and marked trails south, towards Anchorage. The views and scenery was amazing, even after the trail turned inland. We walked at an easy pace, and found time to sun ourselves on some boulders along the way.
Waterfall near boulders
View away from the waterfall
Eventually we got to Torrent Bay, just across from Anchorage. It was early afternoon, and the tide was going out, so the low tide path was available. Krisanne opted to take that path, while Eric and I wanted to hike a bit more so we did the high tide path. Supposedly, the low tide path takes 20 minutes to cross, and the high tide path takes 1 hour 30 minutes. After walking a bit, we saw Krisanne down below, wading along the sandbar. We thought we could play a trick on her and beat her to our destination if we picked up the pace... so we started to run. It was quite nice as far as trail runs go, but after about 25% of the total distance (2.4 km) we hit a very long hill up, and we were reduced to walking the rest of the way.
Sandbar
Our private beach!
When we got to the beach at Anchorage, we spotted Krisanne laying out enjoying the beach. She seemed surprised we got there so quick... she had arrived just 5 minutes earlier. She said the low tide crossing was very slow due to broken shells, so she had to pick her steps carefully. Eventually we fessed up that we really picked up the pace and ran for a large chunk of the distance. Eric and I wound up covering the distance in about 50 minutes. We were out for a total of 5 hours, and with various breaks, we probably wound up hiking/walking around 4 and a half hours.
After leaving Abel Tasman, we drove to Picton.
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