Honest Abel Tasman Coast Track
Here is everything you need to know about a 3-day hike on the Abel Tasman track — starting from Awaroa and ending at Marahau
In June of 2020, we walked part of the Abel Tasman Track — one of New Zealand’s Great Walks well-known for its beautiful beaches. It was quite an adventure, being able to see not only the great scenery of the beaches and forests but also the many unique animals along the way! This track is labeled as “intermediate” by New Zealand’s DOC website, but we found it to be pretty easy and thought it would be a great starter track for anyone looking to try one for the first time or even easy enough to bring the whole family along 🙂
We are doing this post a little differently in that we are going to give a quick summary at the top of what one would need to prepare for a 3-day hike on the Abel Tasman Track if hiking from Awaroa to Marahau, and then including a more thorough description of our personal experience walking it!
What You’ll Need for Abel Tasman
Abel Tasman National Park is located on the northern part of the South Island of New Zealand:
The whole track itself is 5 days, extending from Wainui to Marahau. But since we only did the 3-day hike from Awaroa to Marahau, this is what we will focus on in this post!
Map of Abel Tasman Track — taking a water taxi to Awaroa and then walking on foot to Marahau
Since the track is not a loop, many trampers choose to schedule a water taxi on the way in or out to avoid doubling back over the same route. We preferred getting dropped off and walking back rather than the reverse in order to keep us from rushing to make a pick-up time. So we took the water taxi up the coast to Awaroa and walked back from there.
Itinerary
Day 1: Take water taxi to Awaroa. Walk from Awaroa to Bark Bay Hut (4 hours 30 minutes, 13.5km)
Day 2: Walk from Bark Bay Hut to Anchorage Hut (High tide track: 4 hours, 11.5km Low tide crossing: 3 hours, 8.4km)
Day 3: Walk from Anchorage Hut to Marahau (4 hours, 12.4km)
Preparation
Bookings
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Huts: Book the Abel Tasman Track huts on New Zealand’s DOC website. Out-of-season (May – Sep) huts cost $32 NZD per person per night, but in-season (Oct -Apr) will cost a bit more.
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Water Taxi: There are a few water taxi companies available, but we took one from “Abel Tasman AquaTaxi” which cost $49 NZD per person. You’ll park your car near the Abel Tasman Visitor Centre in Marahau and then take the water taxi to Awaroa.
Equipment
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Backpack: make sure to bring a hiking backpack big enough to fit your food, water, clothing, and sleeping bag! I used Osprey’s Fairview 40 and Stefan used Osprey’s Talon 44.
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Food: this track is 3 days and 2 nights long, so be sure to bring enough food for 3 breakfasts and lunch and 2 dinners! We brought our camping propane stove burner with matches to cook oatmeal in the morning, banana-honey-nut butter sandwiches for lunch, and burritos filled with sweet potato, tofu, chickpeas, and avocados for dinner!
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Water: make sure to bring at least a liter per person when you start the track. The huts have filtered water so you can fill up once you get there. (though, make sure to double-check this on the DOC’s website before you go!) We took our 2.5 L water bladders by Camelbak in our backpacks.
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Clothing: We went in the early winter season so it was about 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and about 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit at night. Knowing this, we each took 2 dri-fit shirts, 1 pair of hiking pants, 3 pairs of socks, pullover, rain jacket (just in case!), hiking boots, sandals, pj pants, pj shirt, 3 pairs of underwear, a hat, and sunglasses. You can adjust as needed!
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Sleeping bag: the huts provide a mattress for you to sleep on, but you will need a sleeping bag or at least a sleeping bag liner.
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Other: headlamp /torch, sunscreen, toothpaste, toothbrush, book or other form of entertainment (there was lots of downtime on this track!)
Hiking the Abel Tasman
[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJgdj1vBmQM&w=854&h=480]
History of Abel Tasman
Founded in 1942, the national park was named for Abel Janszoon Tasman, the Dutch explorer who became the first European to discover New Zealand 300 years earlier. He was searching for a non-existent landmass which had been thought to lie west of South America due to a mistranslation of Marco Polo’s writings. He anchored at Golden Bay in what would become part of the national park, but left after an altercation with the indigenous Maori left several dead on both sides. Europeans wouldn’t revisit New Zealand until Captain Cook’s voyage over 100 years later.
Day 1: Taking a water taxi to Awaroa and then walking to Bark Bay Hut
It seems silly, but when I saw that one of the common ways to start the hike was by taking a water taxi, I pictured a yellow cab driving through the sand to take us to our starting point — I just had never heard of that term before! Of course, we didn’t get picked up by a yellow cab, but by a boat which picked us up, along with about 15 other travelers waiting to start the Abel Tasman Track.
It was exciting to see other people and not be scared of catching the coronavirus, since New Zealand announced they had no new cases for about 20 days at that point and had moved to Level 1 (which meant living life as normal). When we had booked our huts a couple of weeks back, we were pondering how to deal with the situation, especially sharing the huts with other people — but that wasn’t an issue anymore!
Our H20 taxi driver took us along some of the bays and showed us some incredible rock formations residing near them like the Split Apple Rock and a cove with some beautiful rock arches which have been known to host wedding ceremonies at low tide.
One of the bays had baby fur seals swimming around. According to New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC), there are two islands in Abel Tasman National Park which are specially protected for breeding seals, which means no public access to these areas are allowed unless by permit. We’re so used to seeing animals like this in zoos and it was beautiful to see them living peacefully and thriving in this area.
Those observant contrarians among you might be adjusting the bridge of your taped-up nerd spectacles and saying “J’accuse!! One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between seals and sea lions is that sea lions have visible ear flaps and seals don’t. Ergo, those must, in fact, be sea lions and not seals. Q.E.D.” You would normally be right, but not so fast on that self-righteous letters to the editor! A distinguishing feature of the New Zealand fur seal is that it actually does have external ear flaps. Whether or not this was a scientific retcon like Jim Gaffigan suggests happened with seahorse gender remains up for debate.
After about 30 minutes of traveling through the bays, we ended up at Awaroa Inlet, where we were dropped off and started our journey. We were in awe of the gorgeous beach before us and excited to start another great hike in this beautiful country. There were about 8 people dropped off at this point, so we pretty much had the beach to ourselves as everyone spread out and started walking!
Each day we hiked no more than 4 hours by foot so it was nice to hang out on the beaches en route to our huts. Stefan had brought his Kindle, but after having hiked the Rakiura track with a heavy backpack and loathing it, I committed to having the lightest pack on me. This meant that I had plenty of downtime, but no entertainment!
When we arrived at Bark Bay Hut, I left my bag by the hut to go to the bathroom. When I got back, I found a large bird about to go through my things! It turned out that this flightless bird, looking like a cross between a kiwi and a chicken was named a weka and are all along some of the huts and beaches along the track. The ones that live closer to the huts are a bit “cheekier” as the kiwis say (and a bit fatter), and will get very close to you! They’re harmless, though, unless you leave your food laying around that is!
The weka bird
One of the nice things about staying in a hut was getting to meet other hikers on the track. We met some nice kiwis who also have their own travel blog! They have traveled to many places in the world and are taking advantage of traveling in their home country as many other kiwis are after the pandemic. We enjoyed talking to them about the track, hobbies, food, etc. and especially liked getting recommendations for places to go in New Zealand.
The night wasn’t too cold at around 45 degrees Fahrenheit, but it was still nice to sit around the fireplace talking to the other hikers while we waited for our aluminum-wrapped burritos to heat on top of it. The sleeping room was also at a nice temperature, considering there were about 10 other people sleeping in it.
Day 2: Bark Bay to Anchorage Hut
We had another day with beautiful sunny weather so we spent the first hour relaxing on the beach of Bark Bay. After soaking up the sun for a bit, we started our hike to Anchorage Hut.
We had downloaded The ABC Murders on Audible to listen to on the hike. This was the fourth Agatha Christie murder mystery we’ve listened to while hiking (the others being The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, and And Then There Were None) and we’ve loved them! They’re a great way to keep our minds active while walking on the trails and we’ve had some great discussions about the stories (I even solved one of them!).
Along the way, we stopped at another beach, walked over a swing bridge, and took a detour to a place called “Cleopatra Pools”, which had natural water slides (nope — I did not go down them because it was too cold!).
We arrived to Anchorage Bay right before sunset and saw some wekas having a buffet with the hordes of clams on the beach! Inside the hut, we found the friendly kiwis we had talked to the previous night and spent the rest of the night talking about travel stories with them. And Stefan and I absolutely loved that they shared their delicious tuna pasta with us! This was especially welcome as we were eating a little less food than normal since we thought we had forgotten our oatmeal (I say “thought” because after the hike I found it hidden all the way at the bottom of my bag…oopsie. I carried all that weight around for nothing!).
Day 3: Anchorage Hut to Marahau
On the third morning of the hike, we found pukekos all around the hut! These birds are identified by their large red bills, black and dark blue feathers, and long spindly legs. And unlike some large birds in New Zealand, they actually fly! Unfortunately, these birds weren’t as cheeky as the wekas so I couldn’t get super close for a photograph!
The pukeko
Little did we know that the pukeko would be only one of the three unique creatures we saw that day! Continuing on to our track to Marahau (where our car was parked), we walked along Anchorage Bay and onto the forest of Abel Tasman. There were some neat lookouts along the path which we could take to see Adele Island and some of the other islands — Stefan knows how much I like singing to Adele’s songs!
Coming back from one of the lookouts, we spotted what seemed to be a black goat. Upon second look it was actually a boar! We had heard a story from one of our friends having a close encounter with a boar and her babies in Hawaii and I was very much aware that they are dangerous if they feel threatened. But luckily, it walked away as soon as it saw us! I didn’t get a good photo of it, but I did manage to get a video of it which I included in our full video located above!
We continued along the path and stopped about 3/4 of the way back to a small beach because it had a bathroom (and I needed to go badly!). At this beach, we found some LIVE STARFISH (although Stefan insisted they were dead and either octopus or calamari).
We found loads of starfish like this one on one of the beaches of Abel Tasman
Stefan and I finished the rest of the track in awe of what we had seen that day and throughout the rest of the track. We found the actual hiking to be relatively easy, with not too many hills, and had encountered some families with young children which meant this hike could be done by a wide range of age and fitness levels.
Walking back to our car in Marahau
Overall, we loved the Abel Tasman track. It was sunny and warm, even in winter, and the frequent beaches—so many, in fact, that we regularly found ourselves walking right by ones that normally would have been a day-long showstopper—made it far more scenic than the nigh-unending rainforest of the Rakiura Track. The low level of difficulty and short days also left plenty of time to enjoy those beaches, even with the reduced daylight of winter. The huts were comfortable, warm, and one even had USB charging cables. Finally, you can totally customize your trip with the use of a water taxi, meaning you’re not trapped on the full route if you decide you don’t have time or energy to do it all in one go.
All of these positive factors mean that we’ve heard the track can get somewhat crowded in the summer, which could be a potential downside. Also, for those who like more difficult tramps, this track might feel a bit like riding a bike with training wheels, but you could always make it more challenging by hiking two legs in one day rather than stopping overnight at every hut. For us though, it was the perfect combination of leisurely sunshine strolls along gorgeous beaches, and we would recommend it to anyone!
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Thanks for reading! We know this post was long, but we would like to reward those that have made it this far if they can answer this question:
*Name the five unique creatures we saw on this track.
Send an e-mail to [email protected] with the answer by July 18th, 2020 and 3 lucky winners will get a personalized postcard from us 🙂
If you enjoyed this post, let us know in the comments below!
About Dagmar and Stefan:We are a couple in love with traveling, meeting new people, learning about different cultures, eating good food, and sharing our experiences with others. Currently, we are spending the year 2020 traveling across New Zealand with a Working Holiday Visa!
5 Comments
Cindy
What a great trek! I enjoyed your comments and pictures/videos. Felt like I was right there with you! Thanks for sharing and taking me along.
Dagmar Velez
Thanks for reading, Cindy! That’s exactly why we created this blog — to share our experiences with others and make them feel like they are with us the entire way 🙂 You would love this hike!
Jaclyn NoronoRodriguez
Since I felt like I was there, I think I can mark it as "done", right?! Lol…j/k! Loved the blog as usual, thanks guys!
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