The Abel Tasman Coast Track
Great Walk/Easy tramping track located in Abel Tasman National Park on South Island’s northern shores.
The Coast Track is a Great Walk and extends for 52 km. All streams are bridged but there are tidal crossings which can only be crossed within a few hours either side of low tide. The track takes an average of three to five days to complete. There are huts and campsites where you can stay for a fee. Bookings are required. There is no charge for day walks. Visitors can walk into the park from the roadend carparks, catch water taxis to beaches along the track or kayak along the coast.
Time: 3 - 5 days Distance: 52 km
The nearest towns of Nelson, Motueka and Takaka have i-SITES, accommodation and shops catering for tramping and kayaking needs. Kaiteriteri has a petrol station, small grocery shop, accommodation and café. Marahau has accommodation, a shop and cafés. Takaka is the last place for petrol before Totaranui.
The Abel Tasman National Park
For at least 500 years Maori lived along the Abel Tasman coast, gathering food from the sea, estuaries and forests, and growing kumera on suitable sites. Most occupation was seasonal but some sites in Awaroa estuary were permanent. The Ngati Tumatakokiri people were resident when, on 18 December 1642, the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman anchored his two ships near Wainui in Mohua (Golden Bay), the first European to visit Aotearoa - New Zealand. He lost four crew in a skirmish with the local people and soon moved on.
Permanent European settlement began around 1855. The settlers logged forests, built ships, quarried granite and fired the hillsides to create pasture. For a time there was prosperity but soon the easy timber was gone and gorse and bracken invaded the hills. Little now remains of their enterprises.
Concern about the prospect of more logging along the coast prompted a campaign to have 15,000 hectares of crown land made into a national park. A petition presented to the Government suggested Abel Tasman's name for the park and it was duly opened in 1942 - the 300th anniversary of his visit.
The most noticeable features of this park are the golden sandy beaches, the fascinating rocky outcrops (mainly granite but with a scattering of limestone and marble) and the rich, unmodified estuaries. The landscape has been modified, perhaps more than in our other national parks. The vegetation cover varies and reflects a history of fires and land clearance, but the forests are regenerating well especially in damp gullies where a rich variety of plants can be found. Black beech dominates the drier ridges.
The more common forest birds, like tui and bellbirds, can be seen along with pukeko around the estuaries and wetlands. The park's boundary excludes the estuaries and seabed but in 1993 the Tonga Island Marine Reserve was created along one part of the Abel Tasman coast. Like a national park, all life in the reserve is protected.
