Day 1 - Marahau to Anchorage via kayak

We had transport organised as a package through Abel Tasman Kayaks.

Garmin Connect P1| P2| P3

It had been a busy month at work and I was pretty lucky in that my mates organised most of the admin for me - so I had the shock of my life when I turned up and found out the first day was via kayak!

We had a wonderful time meandering up the coastline, heading past Adele Island and spotting the seals. Unfortunately one of the rudder pedals on our kayak did break, so poor Krissi spent the last hour trying to balance our steering.

We turned up to Anchorage hut and lordy, this is boujie even for a Great Walk hut. With multiple small bunk rooms, lockers in each room, WiFi and solar charging, it was a lovely place to spend the night.

Day 2 - Anchorage to Bark Bay

Garmin Connect

This was a lovely chill day, hut to hut. We started by meandering across a small estuary crossing trying out our new sandals and ended the day with a swim in the amazing shallow water just outside the hut.

Day 3 - Bark Bay to Awaroa

Garmin Connect to Onetahuti | from Onetahuti to Awaroa

This was probably my favourite day! We stopped at Onetahuti to snorkel in the Tonga Island marine reserve (and I didn't die despite swimming over a stingray). We headed to Awaroa lodge that night for a fancy meal that well and truly broke the bank, but tasted so good that it was worth it anyway.

Day 4 - Awaroa to Whariwharangi

Garmin Connect to Anapai | to Whariwharangi

I swear this entire day was spent jumping from beach up to the headlands and back down again. There might not be much vert in total on the Coast Track, but it sure made up for it by being undulating as heck.

We stopped at Anapai and had a glorious swim - highly recommended!

Whariwharangi homestead is an exceptionally cute hut. It's probably the cutest one I've ever seen on a Great Walk hut, which are usually more geared for getting people through with the least amount of fuss. Finding another shower (freezing cold or not) was the absolute dream also - meant I got to wash my hair with my dishwashing liquid and somewhat revive it!

Day 5 - Whariwharangi back to Totaranui

The last day was the "worst" weather (but still pretty good!) as we doubled back to Totaranui to catch the water taxi. We went via Separation Point after a tip from a family at Awaroa - definitely recommend doing Separation Point when heading south rather than north.