Day 16: Marahau to Takaka

We got up early this morning and drove the short distance to Kaiteri, where we had booked a boat trip with Abel Tasman Sea Shuttles into the national park. The park spans 51km of coastline and has a well marked walking route throughout though, other than at the start and end, the only access to the route is by boat. Unfortunately time would not allow us to walk the whole route but we chose one section of it starting at Medlands Beach, where the boat dropped us off after quite a rough ride!

The walk itself (about 12km) was very varied – from steep climbs through the forest to slightly wetter sections across sand that can only be crossed close to low tide. We stopped for a packed lunch and then took a slight detour inland to Cleopatra’s Pool, a waterfall and rock pool with a natural water slide. The boat picked us up from Anchorage beach mid-afternoon and took us back to Kaiteri.

We drove a bit further north to Takaka and then stopped for dinner, camping overnight at the Waitapu River Bridge campsite.