Hiking the Pukatea Loop to Awaroa

The starting point of this hike is Totaranui beach. We cruised via Water-Taxi from Kaiteriteri (the entrance of the Abel Tasman park) to Totaranui, the starting point (2 hours). You can explore the near-by Pukatea loop and a little bit of the surrounding hikes here, per your schedule. This is about 1.5 hours and covers 4 kms of the surrounding area. Extremely picturesque. Count-in the time you will take to stop and capture some of this beauty.

The map here gives you a clear idea of this journey.

The scenery is breathtaking. It's pretty simple and the directions are clear.The hike is relatively easy. The terrain is mostly plain with occasional hills. Then you can continue through the isolated northern forest and along the spectacular beaches to Awaroa. This is where we halted overnight. This is a 2 hour hike, about 7 kms with some steep hilly terrain. There is a water-crossing right before you get to Awaroa. I would call this point-to-point even though we did a loop initially as a part of the exploration because this loop is more of an option on-route to the destination Awaroa.

Click this link to get to the DOC (Department of Conservation, New Zealand) website. The document also shows various campsites, options/plans to hike and provides you ample information for you to plan this in your own way. The last page shows a map.

This can be done as a multi-day through hike. For Day 2, click here, For Day 3: click here