Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Captain Cook stopped briefly in 1770, but recorded little about the coastal area and noth-
ing of its inhabitants. It wasn't until Dumont d'Urville sailed into the area between Marahau
and Torrent Bay in 1827 that Europeans met the Maori on peaceful terms. The French nav-
igator made friends with the villagers, studied wildlife, and charted the park's bays and
shoreline.
European settlement of the area began around 1855. The new settlers ranged from farm-
ers and fishers to shipwrights and loggers, but by far the most enterprising was William
Gibbs. The farm and mansion he built at Totaranui, and the innovations he implemented -
such as running water in every bedroom, a glasshouse that furnished grapes and a model
dairy that used porcelain pans warmed by copper pipes to make cream rise - were ahead of
their time.
The Abel Tasman National Park was created in 1942, much credit for which is due to
Nelsonian Perrine Moncrieff, the dedicated conservationist who wrote the first ornithologic-
al field guide,
New Zealand Birds and How to Identify Them,
in 1925. We thank you, Ms
Moncrieff.
Environment
Nineteenth-century settlers embarked on their usual program of logging, quarrying and
clearing forest to make way for pasture, and it was an ultimately successful campaign by
conservationists that saw an original block of 15,000 hectares made into a national park.
The varying vegetation cover of Abel Tasman reflects this history.
The moist, warm coastal areas are characterised by regenerating shrublands and lush
coastal broad-leaved forest, with vines, perching plants, tree ferns and an abundance of the
country's national plant, the silver fern. On the drier ridges and throughout much of the
park's interior, the bush is predominantly beech forest, with all five NZ species found within
its confines.
The more common forest birds, like tui and bellbird (korimako), can be seen along with
pukeko around the estuaries and wetlands. Oystercatchers (torea), shags (koau) and little
blue penguins (korora) can be seen on the coast.
The park's boundaries formally exclude the estuaries, foreshore and seabed but in 1993
the Tonga Island Marine Reserve was created along part of the Abel Tasman coast. All life
in the marine reserve is protected. Native wildlife, natural, cultural and historic features are
also protected within the park.
