Abel Tasman Track

The Abel Tasman is one of New Zealand’s Great Walks, and of those it’s probably the most accessible. We did about 2/3 of the trail with two kids ages 7 and 13 and two out-of-shape grown-ups.

Part of the charm is that most of the trail is serviced by water-taxi from Marahau. You can get yourself, bags, or even a “chilly bin” dropped at any of the main beaches up as far as Totaranui.

Prep

We started out by food shopping at the Countdown in Motueka. The morning of our hike, at Marahau Water Taxi, we arranged transfer for our heavy packs, so we could hike with day-packs and have the heavy stuff - tent, sleeping bags, cooking gear, big-screen TV - carried by boat. We also arranged for a food resupply bag to be delivered in a couple days in. This was a great way to minimize the extent to which Mom and Dad end up being pack-animals.

After a last coffee and snack at the adjacent café, we were off.

Our itenerary

Apple Tree Beach: nice lunch stop.

Anchorage: nice beach, spacious campground, but crowded.

Cleopatras Pool: lovely freshwater swimming hole with icy water cascading over rock formations.

Bark Bay: campground with kitchen on a beach and tidal marsh. Oyster catchers squeeked a warning to stay away from their young ones.

Onetahuti Bay: extra-beautiful beach with big rock formations and white sand.

Awaroa: Coming up a rise in the trail to the sound of reggae music and the smell of pizza was almost surreal. The Awaroa Lodge operates a fancy restaurant and a pizza cafe / beer garden where we sat on bean-bags and felt like we were in Thailand. The campground here is set about 2km back into a huge tidal estuary in a place that must be the bug version of paradise. The low-tide crossing is mandatory to continue Northward - unless you go by boat. This is where water taxis become very useful, especially if the tides are timed inconveniently. More below.

Totaranui: We took a water-taxi from Awaroa to Totaranui. There’s a ranger station here and they have Juicies popsicles. Yum. There’s also a road, so Totaranui is crowded with car-campers and caravans.

Anapai: A primitive campground with 6 beach-front camp-sites, a beautiful crescent of beach and a funky rock formation resembling the giant heads of Easter Island. Only 3 km from Totaranui, but feels like the end of the earth.

Marahau: Hiked back to Totaranui and then back to Marahau by water-taxi. Because the tide was right, our skipper made a truly magical side-trip into Shag Harbor “named for the bird” - a channel of crystal-clear water extending back into the bush. Seeing seal pups sunning themselves on the rocks was a perfect capper to the trip.

More on Awaroa

Overall, we had a fantastic time on the Abel Tasman track, but the night in Awaroa campground was wretched. So many mosquitoes crowded into the space between the inner and outer layers of our tent that the whine was maddening. That’s in addition to the omnipresent sandflies. I’m itching just thinking about it.

Also, if the tide is up, the 2km sand route between the campground and the beach/lodge is submerged, necessitating the 7km inland trail up and down 2 large hills. Don’t think that this will be a quick walk. It took us a full 2 hours. You can get something of an idea from the satellite images.

In the future, I plan to avoid Awaroa campground at all costs. Next time, I’ll shell out to stay at the lodge and take a water-taxi onward bypassing the walking-on-sand bit. On the other hand, our campsite neighbors claimed that the section of trail between the tidal crossing and Totaranui was quite lovely. Another nice option would be to stay at the beautiful Onetahuti beach then stop for a pizza and beer lunch before continuing northward.

Other options

We saw a lot of people trail-running the southern sections. The trail is well maintained, wide, mostly level and shaded by tree-ferns. Getting dropped by water-taxi and running back to Marahau seems like a very civilized way to get some kilometers under your feet. Combining that with a stay at Awaroa Lodge, even more so. Kayaking looked really fun, especially in the section between Marahau and Awaroa.

People say the prettiest sections are up North. How about starting from that end? Booking a place in Tata beach might have to be done way in advance, but would be a nice addition.

We met one camper doing a loop from Totaranui via the inland Gibbs track then along to coast to Whariwharangi, Anapai and then back to Totaranui as a day-hike.

Trail tips

• Watch out for wekas. These sneaky bush-chickens will get into anything as soon as you put it down.
• Bring bug juice. The sandflies are brutal. Some people take antihistimines proactively.
• The trail is very well marked and basically goes in a straight line. There’s really only one place you can screw up. Be careful which trail you take out of Anchorage. There are three ways to get in/out of Anchorage - the hot and hilly South trail back towards Marahau, the North trail toward Cleopatra’s pool, and the tidal-crossing directly to Torrent Bay.
• More tips here.
• Kayak Abel Tasman