Beaches & Bays

Kaiteriteri Beach is definitely one of New Zealand’s best beach holiday destinations. It’s famous for its glittering golden sands, its beautiful blue-green water and many varieties of wildlife. Kaiteriteri beach is a favourite holiday destination for both New Zealanders and international tourists alike.

Kaiteriteri is known as the Gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park. Located in the scenic Nelson/Tasman region of New Zealand, Kaiteriteri beach has some of the highest sunshine hours in New Zealand,which also provides Kaiteriteri with many great activities and attractions for you while you’re on holiday here all year around.

The Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust (set up in 2007), a partnership between the community, park tourist operators and D.O.C, maintains the trapping and predator monitoring network on Adele which is in place to catch predators that get onto the island. It also has trap lines on the park coast to prevent predators swimming to Adele, just 800 metres from the coast, and nearby predator-free Fisherman Island.

D.O.C carried out rodent eradication on the park’s Adele, Fisherman and Tonga Islands in 2007 to pave the way for their ecological restoration and for their use as island wildlife refuges. Stoats were removed from 87-hectare Adele Island through trapping assisted by the Marahau community.

Now Adele Island is the home to a large varieties of wildlife especially birdlife.So come take a walk and listen to the beautiful birdsong.

Anchorage is the only bay with a number of different accommodation options from DOC campsites & huts to a boat stay.From Anchorage you can access the popular Pitt Head walk which is approximately an hour return.

Anchorage campsite is a walk-in or boat-in campsite on the southern section of the Abel Tasman Coast Track. There is no drive in access.

Beachside campsite. Anchorage has great facilities, but is also busier. It is especially busy in summer with pick-ups of kayaks and day walkers by water taxis.

Popular campsite for school groups, especially on Monday to Thursday nights in November and mid-February to April.

The views between Torrent Bay and Bark Bay are some of the most stunning views you can find in the Abel Tasman National Park. At the northern end of Torrent Bay beach the track climbs steadily and then sidles around two valleys and above a beautiful inlet to Falls River, the biggest in the park, which is crossed by a 47 m suspension bridge. Beyond the river, the track meanders through lush coastal forest before dropping back to the sea. Follow the track to the hut and campsite beside Bark Bay estuary. In Bark Bay, with it’s sheltered camp site, you can relax, swim in the crystal clear water, sunbathe or or relax in the shady forest canopy.

Tonga Island Marine Reserve exists between Bark Bay in the south and Awaroa Bay in the north. The reserve boundary reaches one nautical mile out to sea. Fishing or collecting shellfish in the reserve is strictly prohibited with stiff penalties for those caught breaking the rules. The reserve is named for the island it is based around which supports a year round Fur Seal population.

The clear warm waters of the reserve make it incredibly popular with kayakers and swimmers, and trampers on the coastal track will sometimes pop into the water with a snorkel to cool off. Underwater visitors will see tumbled rock and bedrock reefs, inhabited by numerous grazing invertebrates, with sandy-bottoms extending beyond.

Kayakers will often see little blue penguins along this coast and may occasionally be rewarded with an encounter with a pod of dolphins. Because many local estuaries are also protected, visitors may see some of New Zealand’s rarer shorebirds.

The Awaroa Wildlife Management Reserve occupies 308 ha on the floodplain associated with the Awaroa Stream, from where this stream enters Lake Whangape to 2.3 km upstream. Most of the reserve is covered by crack willow forest or by open swamp dominated by flax, cabbage tree, manuka, and Coprosma propinqua.

Awaroa Lodge is located in the heart of the Abel Tasman National Park with no road access! It has accommodation, restaurant and a bar. You can enjoy a number of activities while staying there. You can stroll around the beach, walk the coastal track, kayak, fish or sail and do a lot more.

Totaranui is located in Abel Tasman National Park toward the northern end of the Abel Tasman Track and is often used as a starting or finishing point for walking and kayaking the track/park. The beaches to the South are Goat Bay, Waiharakeke Bay, and Awaroa Bay; to the North is Anapai Bay, Mutton Cove, and Separation Point which separates Able Tasman National Park from Golden Bay.

Totaranui bay has some of the best stands of native bush left in the National Park and its golden beach and clear waters have seen it become a summer holiday favourite for New Zealanders seeking sun and sea.