Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Narrator: Known for it's dramatic landscapes, friendly people and Marahau culture, New Zealand is a country with unparalleled diversity which is one of the reasons it's an adventure travellers paradise. On the northern end of New Zealand south Island you'll find Abel Tasman national park. One of the counties 13 national parks. Although the smallest of the 13 parks what it lacks in size it makes up for in beauty. As well as the variety of activities it offers visitors. It also features the Abel Tasman coast 2 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- track which is recognized as one of the 10 great walks of New Zealand and offers world class trekking, sea kayaking and canyoneering. Breathtaking beaches, pristine camp spots and crazy rock slides. This week on Epic Trails, we're exploring Abel Tasman National Park. 3 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: I'm Eric Hanson, when I see a trail I see more than a path from point A to point B. A good trail is the ultimate opportunity to explore. To discover new landscapes, and to challenge myself. When I don't have a pack on my back, I'm thinking about my next big adventure because my mission is simple. My mission, is to discover the worlds most Epic Trails. 4 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- The city of Nelson is a charming, seaside city on the northern end of New Zealand's south island and the starting point for my adventure. The city is known for it's comfortable climate, great beer, and rich art scene and so to experience it all, I head out to a local art market to get a feel for the area. And hopefully meet some interesting people. 5 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- The market does not disappoint there's a variety of cool artwork to check out and some quirky characters like Mike a former athlete and now an artist who rides his bike everywhere. 6 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- So you've raced all over then. 7 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Mike: Nobody's done more coast to coast then I have. 8 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- It's a great accomplishment. 9 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Apparently he's a bit of a legend. And then there's this guy. 10 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- While the city of nelson is beautiful it's also the gateway to Abel Tasman national park where I'm heading for a mixed kayaking and backpacking adventure. 11 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Joining me on the journey is Harley from Abel Tasman kayak's an outfitter that's been leading trips in the park for over 30 years. 12 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- How's it going are you Harley? 13 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- I'm Harley. 14 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Harley, Eric. 15 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Nice to meet you. 16 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Nice to meet you as well. 17 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Welcome to the Abel Tasman. How you doing? 18 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Thanks, doing great. I'm really excited for this adventure. 19 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- me too it's going to be awesome, the weather is awesome. 20 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Ya brilliant. 21 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Ya Brilliant. 22 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Awesome. 23 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- It doesn't take long for me to realize that Harley and I are going to be getting along just fine. He's the kind of guy that enjoys sleeping under the stars more than in a warm bed and he's always ready for an adventure. basically, he's my southern hemisphere doppelgänger. 24 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Our adventure begins on the northern end of the 37 mile Abel Tasman coast track. Recognized as one of New Zealand's ten great walks, the cool thing about the track is that it can be experienced by trail, or by kayak. And our plan is to do both. 25 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- So hopefully we can get to separation point by the end of the day. 26 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Fantastic if we get into that. 27 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- And camp at Mutton Cove? 28 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Ya cuz we're gonna hit south tomorrow right along the coastline. 29 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Cool, love it. 30 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Ya let's get on the route. 31 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Harley: We're here in the Abel Tasman national park and it's a really spectacular and special place in New Zealand. It's a little bit different to what we get in our other national parks they'll either be mountainous or get really rugged coastlines. A beautiful little micro climate here that protects us from a lot of the weather in New Zealand. So we'll get 300 days a year of blue skies and direct sunshine, and national park we get a coastline where it's just this beautiful beaches one after the other 32 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- separated by little bush inlands and really nice kayaking conditions. 33 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: Epic Trails is brought to you by Tourism New Zealand. 100% pure New Zealand. 34 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- FitBit Ionic, the smartwatch designed for fitness. 35 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Vasque, trust on the trail. 36 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Exofficio made to adventure. 37 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Air New Zealand, a better way to fly. 38 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: Epic Trails is brought to you by, Tourism New Zealand, 100% pure New Zealand. 39 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Founded in 1942, New Zealand's Abel Tasman National park is a stunning stretch of coastline on the northern end of the south island. Known for it's golden beaches, granite cliffs and sprawling estuaries. The great news for travellers like me is that it's also where you'll find the Abel Tasman coast track. Which is designed to let people explore the park by trail, by a kayak or even water taxi. 40 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- As we work our way south from our starting point, at the northern end of the park, I'm blown away by the scenery. Every bend reveals another spectacular cove. As the trail winds through thick forests, and then across postcard like beaches, this is definitely one of the most beautiful coastlines I've ever seen. And it's exciting to know that we have five days to explore the length of it. 41 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- As dawn breaks, our second day starts the way I think every day should start. With the sun pouring into my tent, and a hot coffee in hand. It doesn't get much better than this. 42 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- So we just camped out at Mutton cove one of the top campsites along Abel Tasman track. Beautiful campsite right along the beach here, so just had a lovely morning watching the sunrise over the ocean. Packing up, we'll be doing some breakfast shortly, getting on the trail and I'll be hiking down with Harley, hiking down not sure exactly how many miles but we're gonna be staying at a lodge tonight, one of the lodges along the trail. 43 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Harley: Today's weather is going to be the same as it was yesterday, so ya we're looking at blue skies, we're gonna be sheltered where we are, but we get another really big strong wind blowing across the point across the bay it looks good for us and then tomorrow change around to a little bit of a northerly wind so get a few littlest waves into our afternoon gonna be exciting. 44 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Fuelled up, packed up, and hopped up on caffeine we set out for the days hike although we only have eight miles to cover today, we've got a real schedule to stick to. So that we can time our arrival at a particularly large estuary at low tide in order to get across. 45 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- One of the things I'm enjoying most about this trail, is all the surprises it offers. We'll be walking along a gorgeous beach and then the trail will break into the forest or take us up and around a rock bluff along the way, Harley routinely stops me to point out some cool or strange thing that I probably would of walked right past without noticing. 46 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Really interesting so just walked into the leave side off the hill starting to see a bit of beach forest here, it's a really dark bark on the tree, so looks like it's been burned, but that's just the natural fungus growing out of the side of the tree, the fungus is living on this sugary droplets you'll see on the side of the tree here, see on the end of a little thread so there's a bug, the scale insect which burrows in the tree, and lives in the tree. So those threads are the bugs anal filaments. 47 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Anal filaments. 48 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Anal filament and so technically those droplets are bug poo but because it's pure sugar it's sort of evaporating into the air and actually it's refining into a honey and as disgusting as it sounds you can taste and it's absolutely delicious. Do you want to have a go? 49 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- You actually eat it? 50 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- It's totally safe to eat. 51 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- An Anal filament. 52 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- An anal filament is strangely delicious. 53 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- strangely delicious well I got to try it. 54 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- You got to give it a go. 55 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- How do you actually do it? Just. 56 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- You don't want to lick the tree, just collect a few droplets up on your fingertip and taste that. 57 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- That's the most delicious filament that I've ever tasted 58 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Top notch anal filament. 59 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- That is top notch. 60 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- So we've reached the Awaroa inlet and we're lucky that we're here at low tide the tides it's going out for one more hour but we should be able to have a go at it. We're gonna get our feet wet a little bit because it goes out completely, if you hit the tide time wrong you got to sit here for maybe three to four hours and wait for the tide to go out. 61 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Well let's give it a go. 62 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Let's give it a go. 63 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Right on. 64 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- The Awaroa crossing is one of a few mandatory crossings on the Abel Tasman coast track and it's a really cool opportunity to get a close look at what lies below. 65 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Even better, you get to experience what one of these estuaries feels like squished through your toes. 66 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Having successfully crossed the estuary the hiking portion of our trip is coming to an end and so tonight, we're getting a hot shower and a real bed at the Aworoa lodge as we get ready to hop In kayaks to continue our exploration of Abel Tasman National park. 67 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: Epic Trails is brought to you by, Exofficio, made to adventure. 68 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: Epic Trails is brought to you by, Vasque, trust on the trail. 69 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: Aside from the incredible landscapes, one of the most interesting things about New Zealand is it's rich cultural history and here in Abel Tasman national park the Marahau culture plays a strong role as it does across the country, in fact the Maori presence in the area dates back more than 600 years almost three centuries before Abel Tasman himself was the first European to sight New Zealand. To learn more about the Maori artwork that can be found all along the Abel Tasman Coast track I meet up 70 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- with Aneika a local Marahau and park guide. 71 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- So can you tell me about the podium that we saw earlier what's the significance of that? 72 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Aneika: So the XXX, is a carved post and it's really representation of one of my people's leaders or chiefs. So his name was XXX, and so the whole idea behind the post is that our local tribe really want to have a presence of Abel Tasman here. So that's one way that we've been doing that in terms of representing where we come from. The pole also means you know, it identifies who we are as a tribe so that you know other people that are coming in they know that, that's, the land they are on belongs to 73 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- XXX and that's the name of my people. 74 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Oh cool. 75 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- The past few days of hiking in the park have been incredible, and now I'm looking forward to a few days of sea kayaking. But first, its' time to crank up the adventure. Canyoning isn't always the most graceful activity, but its' definitely one of the coolest ways to explore a gorge. And so I've met up with Toine and Adrian of Abel Tasman Canyons to see what kind of fun we can have with some ropes and climbing gear. How ya doing? 76 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Doing good how are you? 77 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Doing good, what's your name? 78 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Toine: Toine. 79 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Twon? 80 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- sweet, Eric. 81 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Adrien: how ya doing? 82 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Adrien, nice to meet you, Eric. 83 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- So I'm super excited to get into one of the canyons here in New Zealand, so that's what we're up to right? 84 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Sweet. Yeah, we're gonna take you to Torrent River. Which is that canyon just over there. Sort of a mid level canyon, yeah awesome. Great adventure. 85 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- What do I need? 86 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- We're just going to finish packing this and we've got your gear over here. So you'll just sling that over your shoulder and we're outta here. 87 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Perfect. Lets gear up. 88 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Sweet. Lets do it. 89 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Right on. 90 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: As a kid, there was nothing I enjoyed more than playing with friends on the playground. Now that I'm a big kid, well not much has changed. And I can tell you this is one of the coolest natural that I have ever been on. 91 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Toine: Canyoning is basically the sport of descending a steep waterway. Its usually quite narrow and vertical. So we'll see a lot of waterfalls and pools and we're gong to use a combination of jumping, sliding, abseils, a bit of swimming, a bit of scrambling to make our way down there. We're just going to have a whole heap of fun. 92 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: So we just started canyoneering here in the Torrent River. We just did our first rappel, our first dive in, the water is super cold but it feels good and we're just preparing to go down this super slippery slide. Followed by a rappel I guess of our first waterfall. So I really don't now what to expect, super stoked on it though. 93 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- It's always a big no no to drink water unpurified but here in New Zealand the water is so clean and pure, I can literally drink right from the river. It tastes friggin' good too. 94 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Zip lining through a canyon, thats a pretty unique experience. 95 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: Epic Trails is brought to you by, Marmot. 96 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: Epic Trails is brought to you by, Backpacking TV. The premiere backpacking channel on YouTube. 97 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: Back on the trail with Harley, my Kiwi doppelgänger, we have a few more mile to hike to reach our sea kayaks and the next phase of our Abel Tasman adventure. Although I was feeling some nerves this morning about the kayaking that lies ahead. They're all but gone now as I soak in the spectacular countryside we are passing through. 98 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Just had a super cool moment here on the trail. We just landed down here on the beach and as soon as we did, we saw all these splashing dolphins swimming off the coast. So Harley and I jumped into the water to swim out there and then the dolphins just swam right up to us. I had one dolphin literally pass just like four feet away from me. You go underwater and you can hear them pinging. It was, I've never had anything happen like that before. So that was just a wild experience. Just seeing dolphins out there, so 99 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- cool. 100 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Living in the desert, sea kayaking is a new experience for me. But Harley is an excellent guide and quickly gets me sorted out. Although I love hiking, the change of transportation is welcomed. It's nice to get the arms pumping and the different perspective of the park is amazing. 101 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- With all the different bays and inlets along the Abel Tasman coastline, there's so much to explore. Unfortunately our time is limited today because a weather system is bearing down upon us. As the wind continues to pick up, we're forced to take refuge on the Aqua Packers floating lodge where we'll be spending the night. 102 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Oh look at that. It's good to be here, it's getting a little wet out here. 103 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Well this should be fun. We're sleeping on a boat tonight. Kayaked out, and this will be the first camping I'll ever do on a three story boat. Should be fun. 104 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- My excitement about opening a night out on the water is dampened as the storm takes a turn for the worst. It gets so bad in the middle of the night that the boat is pulled from its moorings, forcing the captain to ask that we put on our life vests, stay on deck and be alert and ready for direction. 105 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Harley: Tomorrow it is going to be better that right now. It's turning around, it's going to be coming around more from the west than north so that makes it a more sheltered coastline. It's looking like only patchy cloud. The waters going to be very humid but the sea should calm right down. 106 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Eric: Despite a sleepless night on the water, morning brings clear skies and light winds and I'm excited to be in the kayak once again. 107 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- Kayaking in the Abel Tasman is pretty stelar. We just had a major storm blow through last night. It made for quite the adventurous evening. Unfortunately it's kicked up a bit of the sediment and the stuff in the water but its just gorgeous here. Got blue skies, Harley's taking me to some amazing beautiful coves and inlets and it's just a spectacular way to spend the day. Loving' it. 108 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- After paddling the last eight miles of the parks coastline, we arrived in Marahau. At the end of our Abel Tasman journey. It's been an unbelievable and exciting place to explore and it's easy to see why the Abel Tasman coast track is recognized as one of the ten great walks of New Zealand. For me, the trip has been a truly epic experience. Even thought it only involved a small corner of this amazing country. And so I leave fulfilled knowing with out a doubt that I'll be back to explore more of this land down 109 --:--:--:-- --> --:--:--:-- under.19849