The Abel Tasman Coastal Track is a 3-5 day, 60km track traversing the lush forests and sandy beaches of Abel Tasman National Park, located on the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island.
To change things up a bit, I completed part of this track by kayak and on foot over three days in April 2019 with a small group of fellow travellers. Despite being a bit of a “landlubber”, the ample swimming opportunities and surprisingly mild weather in late April made this another memorable trip for the books.
The Abel Tasman Coastal Track is one of New Zealand’s ten Great Walks. I’ve been lucky enough to explore the Tongariro Northern Circuit and the Kepler Track as well. Although these ten trails are selected as some of the best in the country, there are so many other routes to explore in New Zealand that were just as epic, but not nearly as busy (or as expensive for international folks).
Here is some beta for you to use while planning your journey on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track.
Trail Stats
Distance: 60km by trail from the Marahau Shelter to the Wainui Car Park. The section of trail between Marahau and Totaranui is 44km. I’m approximating that this was roughly the same distance that we paddled and walked, but given we were on the water and made lots of side trips, this probably isn’t accurate.
Elevation: ~100m (max elevation change)
Route Type: One-way
Difficulty: Easy to moderate, in good weather if you are on the water
Hiking Season: Year-round, although if you are taking a kayak like we did, the weather conditions could make this difficult in winter months
Planning Resources
- The Department of Conservation (affectionately called DoC) website has lots of information and topographic maps of the trail
Preparing for the Trip
Itinerary
When I did this track, I was at the tail-end of three months of travelling around New Zealand, and hiking almost every day. I wanted to switch things up a bit and kayak this track. Unfortunately, as a solo traveller, I was unable to rent a single kayak by myself, so coerced some folks I met at a hostel in Nelson to join me on the track.
We rented some kayaks from Abel Tasman Kayaks, intending to kayak north for the first two days, starting at Marahau. Then, we would leave our kayaks at Onetahuti Bay campsite after Day 2, where Abel Tasman Kayaks would pick them up off the beach in a boat. Finally, we would walk the last section of the trail between Onetahuti Bay and Totaranui, where we would catch a water taxi back to Marahau.
I’m glad we opted to kayak the first two days. By boat you have the option to pull up on golden sandy beaches that are not accessible from the trail for swimming breaks. You can also check out all little islands off the coastline.
Transportation to Trailhead
I parked my vehicle at Abel Tasman Kayaks, and they gave us a ride to the trailhead from their facility. On the way back we hopped on a water taxi at Totaranui, which took us back to the trailhead. We walked a few kilometres from here back to the kayaking facility on our way out.
Water taxis do need to be booked ahead of time. We booked with Marahau Water Taxis, but there are a couple of other companies that also operate shuttle services in the area.
Sleeping Options
There are four huts on the Abel Tasman Track: Anchorage Hut (km 12), Bark Bay (km 23), Awaroa (km 36), and Whariwharangi Bay (km 55). There are also eighteen (!) campsites on the trail. Seven of these campsites are between the Marahau trailhead and Anchorage Hut, and the rest are scattered along the rest of the trail or located at the huts.
Campers on this track have seperate facilities and cannot use the hut facilities. Regardless of whether you camp or stay in the huts, you need to book ahead. Check the DoC website for more details.
As with all the Great Walks, there are different rates for international visitors versus New Zealand citizens and residents during the main season. At the time of writing, one night in one of the huts for one adult was $42 for a NZ resident and $56 for an international visitor. Camping was $16 for a NZ resident and $24 for an international visitor.
We opted to camp on this one, as none of us were considered to be NZ residents at the time.
On the Trail
Day 1 – Marahau Trailhead to Anchorage Campsite:
Our group camped at Barn Hostel in Marahau the night before the trip. It was an early morning packing our things into dry bags and getting our kayaks sorted out, but we finally got on the water by mid-morning.
The sun shone and the water was flat as we paddled along the coast, swerving offshore to check out the seal colonies on Motuareronui/Adele Island. After a few hours, we spotted one of many sandy beaches to pull up on for a lunch/swimming break.
After a long break where we soaked up the sun, we hopped back into our boats and paddled north. An hour or so later, we rounded the corner into Anchorage Bay, our campsite beckoning from the entrance to the cove.
As we began to paddle into shore, there was a large BANG under my seat! Thinking we had hit a rock, we stopped paddling to investigate. The water was quite clear and couldn’t see any rocks or reefs below us. Confused, we began to paddle again.
After a few more minutes, I felt another large THUD, and saw a VERY LARGE yellow and gray creature swim away. We quickly realized we had not, in fact, hit something … but something had hit us! Something the size of a single-person kayak! Multiple times!
My kayak buddy and I shrieked, and began to madly paddle towards the beach, smashing multiple Olympic speed records as we sprinted out of the danger zone.
We slid up on the beach in our kayaks and pulled it out of the water at lightning speed, before collapsing on the beach in a fit of laughter, wondering what had just happened!
Once we had composed ourselves, we unpacked our kayak and set up our tent on a grassy bluff overlooking a small creek. As the sun was still shining, we figured another swim was in order. I was definitely hesitant after our recent encounter with a large sea creature within viewing distance, but had no regrets once I was in.
Not five minutes after I got out of the water, a large sting-ray swam right through the shallows of the bay! It must have been 2 metres in diameter, and moved so gracefully through the water. I appreciated its beauty from afar, but was really glad not to have encountered that while I was swimming.
We later asked a ranger who was working at Anchorage Bay what might have been ramming the bottom of our kayak. She said it could have been a yellow fin tuna, or a bronze whaler shark.
Jeez … no wonder this place is a marine reserve!
As the sun set, we made our dinner, and tired after a long day on the water, we fell asleep to the sound of the waves lapping against the sandy shore.
Day 2 – Anchorage Campsite to Onetahuti Bay Campsite:
After a good night’s sleep, we had some breakfast, and re-packed our kayak, before braving the water’s of Anchorage Bay again.
Needless to say, we steered well clear of the site of yesterday’s tuna and/or shark encounter!
We paddled out of Anchorage Bay and continued northwards. Once we were out of the sheltered bay, the waves and wind picked up slightly, but we continued onwards, not deterred by the change in weather.
After a couple more hours of paddling, we picked a very alluring golden beach to pull up on for a snack swim break.
Half expecting to encounter another aggressive tuna and/or shark, I kept my swim pretty short. As this beach is not accessible from the main hiking trail, we had the place completely to ourselves.
We noticed the outflow from a river drained into the ocean beside where we had pulled up, so we hopped back into our kayaks and paddled upstream to check it out. It only took about 10 minutes of paddling to arrive below the Falls River crossing on the hiking trail, and we were able to check out a pretty cool waterfall before paddling back out to the ocean.
After another hour or so of paddling northwards, we stopped for a lunch break at Bark Bay.
This was a lovely spot! We had lunch with an American couple who were on their honeymoon, and had a good swim, before we got back into our kayaks and continued to paddle north.
Once you pass Bark Bay, you enter the Tonga Island Marine Reserve. We took a detour to Tonga Island, where we paddled around and looked at the adorable baby seals, before paddling into Onetahuti Bay. We unpacked our kayaks, set up our tent right on the sandy beach, and proceeded to enjoy a swim and a fantastic sunset before heading to bed.
Day 3 – Onetahuti Bay to Totaranui to Marahau Trailhead:
I was rudely awoken in the middle of the night by a curious weka, who had decided to pop in under the tent fly and drag some of our garbage out onto the beach! In a daze, we shooed the bird off, picked up the debris it had stolen, and brought our bags into the tent with us to prevent future incidents.
We woke up before sunrise, packed our bags, and began to trudge barefoot along the golden sand. After two days without the pack, it was strange yet familiar to be carrying its weight on my back again.
From Onetahuti Bay, the trail traverses some wetlands on a boardwalk, and begins to climb. There is a moderate climb up to the Tonga Saddle, before descending down into Awaroa Inlet. At this point, it started to pour with rain, and we stopped briefly outside Awaroa Hut to put our raincoats on and rain covers on our packs.
The Awaroa Bay crossing can only be completed within 2 hours of low tide, and we had left early this morning in order to make sure we hit that window. We took our boots off and crossed the muddy sand bay in the pouring rain, avoiding sharp rocks along the way. There is a very obvious orange triangle posted on one of the trees on the other side of the bay, so it is not difficult to figure out where the trail resumes.
From here, the track meandered through the woods and emerged onto bluffs overlooking the sea. There is a final climb after Waiharakeke Bay campsite, but at the summit we got a fantastic view of our final destination: Totaranui Beach.
The trail descends and traverses the shoreline of the beach before arriving at Totaranui Campsite. This campsite is accessible by vehicle so is quite popular with campers during the summer months. We found a picnic bench where we sat to wait for our water taxi in the pouring rain, celebrating with Pam’s Party Mix candy that I had packed for the end of the trip.
Our water taxi arrived back right on time, and we hopped in for our ride back to Marahau. The water was extremely wavy today, and I was glad we had not tried to kayak this section of the trail given the torrential downpour and change in weather.
We arrived back at the trailhead within 30 minutes, and walked a few kilometres to where my car was parked. Once we had all changed into dry clothes, we made our way to Fat Tui for a well-earned burger, before driving back to Nelson.
Summary
I’m really glad we chose to kayak part of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track – it was a very different experience than it would have been to hike the track, and allowed for a little more freedom to swim and enjoy the coastal experience. Like the Tongariro Northern Circuit, this track is so different from anything I could have done back in Canada. I am always amazed at the diversity of landscapes in New Zealand tucked into such a small geographical area.
Have you spent any time in Abel Tasman National Park?
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