Gibbs Hill

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 -40.9964795, 173.00492872  -40.82257748, 173.004199

No
2494 m	399 m
2465 m	-28 m

			Total
	64.0 km	4.97 km	68.97 km
	14h 51min 2s	57min 13s	15h 48min 15s
	4.31 km/h	5.21 km/h	4.36 km/h

  Download track gps

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

The Abel Tasman Coast Track is one of the official Great Walks in New Zealand.

The Abel Tasman Coast Track is not a circular track. It starts in one point and ends in another one separated by a car drive of 80 Km. You can walk it in either direction, start at Marahau (-40.995904, 173.005080) and finish at Wainui Bay (-40.810057, 172.956353) or the other way around.

The Abel Tasman Coast Track is about 60 Kilometres long and it's usually done in 4 days (3 nights). The Abel Tasman Coast Track is by far the most popular Great Walk since more than 200.000 people hike it every year. The reason for this is, apart from its beauty, that it's easy and very accessible. You can get to different spots by water taxi or kayak and therefore there are endless combinations to do it. I would say most people don't walk from start to end, they do a bit of walk, maybe a bit of kayak and then take a water taxi back, or some similar combination that allows them to enjoy the beauty and good weather of this area.

LOGISTICS

Since the track is not circular you need to find a way to organize it. The most common way is to walk from Marahau to Wainui Bay and once there walk back to Totaranui via Gibbs Hill Track and get a water taxi back to Marahau.
Another alternative is to take a bus from Wainui Bay to Marahau.

My chosen option was to start at Marahau and finish at Wainui Bay and walk back to Totaranui via Gibbs Hill Track and get a water taxi there back to Marahau. I did it in 3 days sleeping at Bark Bay and Whariwharangi huts.
I paid 65$ for the water taxi with the company Abel Tasman AquaTaxi.

THE HIKE

DAY ONE: From Marahau to Bark Bay Hut
    Distance: 24 Km
    Elevation gain/loss: +960 m and -960 m
    Duration (My time): 5h 25 minutes

Since most people start at Marahau there is a huge car park at the beginning of the track where you will also find a shelter and a toilet.
The first thing you will notice as soon as you start walking, apart from the wonderful coastal views, is that the track is well maintained, quite wide, and there are lots of signposts indicating lookouts, beaches, campsites, side tracks, high tide alternatives, etc. There are so many that you may get overwelmed. I decided to follow my GPS and forget about all the indications that were confusing me more than helping.

After 10 kilometres from the start you get to Anchorage Bay. From here to Torrent Bay you need to check the tides table, but if you decide to visit Cleopatra's pool, as we did, there is no need to check for the tides. I found Cleopatra's pool a bit deceiving. Perhaps my expectations were too high.
Torrent Bay is the only place where you will find several houses.
After about 5.5 Kilometres from Torrent Bay you get to Bark Bay. I left my backpack at the hut and went for a swim in the wonderful beach bar next to the hut.

DAY TWO From Bark Bay Hut to Whariwharangi Hut
    Distance: 29.5 Km
    Elevation gain/loss: +1075 m and -1075 m
    Duration (My time): 7h 10 minutes

We start the second day getting up very early in order to cover the 11.5 kilometres to get to Awaroa on time to cross the inlet near the low tide. This is the only spot on the Abel Tasman Coast Track where you have to check the tides table to make sure you cross inside the recommended window around low tide.
I got there when the tide was going up, but still inside the recommended window. I was expecting the 1 Km of the crossing to be on dry sand, and what I found was that, even though most of the crossing was dry sand, there were a couple of streams deep enough to get water almost up to my knees. I was not expecting it. The websites I looked at didn't mention it. Since I was approaching the end of the low tide window, I didn't take my boots off and got my feet wet.
After the crossing I had to take my boots off to take all the water from inside, dry my feet as well as I could and get some dry socks. I noticed all the other people crossing got their boots off and I should have done that as well.
Before the crossing you find the Awaroa Hut and right after the crossing there is a toilet, which I found very useful in case you have to wait there for the tide to go down.

After the crossing you walk for another 5 Kilometres and you get to Totaranui. This is where we are going to come back on the third day in order to get the water taxi to go back to Marahau.
After a bit of a rest and some sandwiches we continue the hike towards Whariwharangi Hut which is almost 9 Kilometres from Totaranui. From Totaranui onwards you are going to find much fewer people.
On the way to the next hut you are going to find a couple of beautiful deserted beaches, Anapay Bay and Anatakapau Bay. It feels so peaceful there.

I decided not to stop for a swim in any of these beaches and walk the last 2.85 Kilometres to get to the Whariwharangi Hut, and have a well-deserved swim there. The beach next to this hut is also beautiful and you will find almost no one there.

Whariwharangi Hut is not a tipical DOC hut. It's an old wooden two-storey family house donated and converted into a cute little hut located in a marvellous spot.

DAY THREE From Whariwharangi Hut to Wainui Bay (and back to Totaranui and then Marahau)
    Distance: 15.5 Km
    Elevation gain/loss: +720 m and -720 m
    Duration (My time): 3h 10 minutes

Day 3 is the shortest day by far. It's only 5 Kilometres, about one hour walk, to get to the end of the track at Wainui Bay. From the hut at sea level you have to walk up to the 170 meters point where Gibbs Hill Track starts, and from there all the way down to Wainui Bay car park, which is at sea level as well.

Wainui Bay looked tiny to me but apparently you can get a bus from here to go back to Marahau. Instead I decided to go walk back up to the 170 meters point and then follow the Gibbs Hill Track to get to Totaranui.
Gibbs Hill Track is about 6 Kilometres in length and halfway through you get to Gibbs Hill which, at 405 meters represents by far the highest elevation of all three days.
Once you get to the signpost indicating the summit you still need to walk for another 50 meters or so, off-track, to get to where the antenna is. The antenna is at the highest spot and where the best views are, although they were not as good as I was expecting them to be. The path to get to the antenna is narrow and overgrown but luckily is short.

From here is pretty much all downhill to Totaranui where we'll catch our water taxi to go back to Marahau. The ride is quite enjoyable and the skipper even took us to an astonishing spot where seals take care of their babies in wintertime. That place felt so peaceful and we even spotted several stingrays.

Once you get to Marahau you still have to walk the 650 meters to the car park at the beginning of the Abel Tasman Coast Track. Quite often the same water taxi company will take you there on one of their vans as they did for us.

As a general summary, this is a fantastic walk that you can combine in many different ways to suit your needs. The coastal views are fantastic and on your way you are going to see lots of wekas. In no other place you will see so many of them.
On the other hand, some parts of the track can get quite crowded since it's so accessible and surprisingly there is quite a bit of elevation gain every day since the track keeps going up and down all the time from bay to bay. Elevation gain and loss are always the same since you start and end every day at sea level.
One last thing that a friend told me, if you are camping you better be careful with the wekas or they may take some of your stuff.