Timing

Totaranui is an iconic beach holiday destination for New Zealanders and it packed for the summer holidays.

Access

Totaranui is signposted from Takaka. The last 45 minutes are a twisty and turny affair on a metalled surface. It is possible in campervans, but pretty hairy.

Track

As trampers on the popular Abel Tasman Coast Track are limited in their transport options to return to civilisation from anywhere north of Totaranui, this section receives much less visitors.

Cross the low tide estuary at the northern end of Totaranui and immediately follow the Headlands Track, pausing at the strategically placed bench looking south. In summer this coastline is studded crimson with the blossoms of rata. The regenerating tea-tree forest suggests the previous land clearance by pioneers, most notably the Gibbs family.

Anapai Beach is watched over by the Navigator at the northern end. This rock stack has curious form and a stately presence. The neat cove hidden amongst the coastal cliffs is a must to explore, before regaining the main coastal track towards Mutton Cove.

Walk the length of yet another golden sandy beach and continue to the side-track to Separation Point. This demarcates Golden Bay and Tasman Bay and is home to a resident seal colony. You can return to the main track via the Separation Point Track, which rejoins it’s parent just before Whariwharangi.

Back on the main track the section above Taupo Pa reaches a junction. Straight ahead takes you to the Wainui Road end, where you must arrange transport to pick you up.

Or returning over Gibbs Hill via the Inland Track has views of Wainui Inlet, before descending back to Totaranui.

Geology

The goldens sands which draw visitors to this coastline are sourced from a weakly-bonded metamorphosed granite of the Separation Point batholith. Even with a protective cloak of vegetation it is prone to slipping, but devoid of vegetation the intense rains form slip planes, which cause extensive slumping and sliding. Land was rendered useless and most farmers upped sticks by 1929. The whole area is still afflicted by unstable geology, storm surges and dynamic watercourses. The area took another pounding during the cyclones of 2018, so check with DoC on track closures.

Polynesian History

It is said Maui fished up the North Island (Te Ika a Maui) from near Anapai.

European History

The Gibbs’s lavish homestead at Totaranui exhibited rose fountains, hand-painted wallpaper and stained glass sash windows, before it burned down in the 1920s. The avenue of London Plane trees is a lasting reminder of their driveway, while the restored Ngarata cottage is the last echo of the farm.

The original Whariwharangi Hut building was constructed by John Handcock in 1897 and used as a farming homestead by later farmers. It was well restored in 1980 and sits a few minutes behind the beach.

It was near Whariwharangi the Dutch explorer, Abel Janszoon Tasman, had an altercation with Ngati Tumatakokiri. His two motherships, the Heemskerk and the Zeehan had a small cockboat for the officers to use as a shuttle. Due to a misunderstanding of calls on conch shells and trumpets, the Dutch misinterpreted the Maori call as a welcome, when in fact is was a call to arms. The cockboat was hijacked and four of Tasman’s crew were killed. He hightailed it out of the area and left the name Murderer’s Bay. No other European explorers made it to New Zealand for another 127 years, when Captain Cook arrived.