Awaroa Inlet

Awaroa is the largest tidal inlet on the Abel Tasman coast, and it is the reason the Coast Track cannot simply be walked to a schedule: the crossing is passable for roughly ninety minutes either side of low tide and impassable otherwise, so the whole itinerary for the walk is built around the tide tables rather than distance. Get it wrong and you wait several hours or wade dangerously. At low water the inlet drains to a wide golden flat that people cross barefoot. In 2016 a seven-hectare beach at the inlet came up for private sale and a crowdfunding campaign raised close to two and a half million dollars from around forty thousand people to buy it and gift it to the nation - it is now part of the national park, and it is one of the more unusual conservation stories in the country. There is a DOC campsite, a hut, a lodge and an airstrip.

What you actually see

• The tidal crossing - a wide golden flat at low water, impassable otherwise.
• The crowdfunded beach - bought by forty thousand people in 2016.
• The estuary - the largest inlet on the Abel Tasman coast.
• The hut and campsite - the overnight stops on the Coast Track.

When to go

November to April, and the crossing only within about ninety minutes either side of low tide. The tide table dictates the walking day - plan around it, not the other way round.

Honest expectations

Mistiming the crossing means a long wait or a dangerous wade, and this catches walkers out every season. Huts and campsites must be booked well ahead. Sandflies are constant. Water taxis run to a timetable and to conditions.

Nearby

Totaranui is north; Bark Bay, Anchorage and Marahau are south along the track.