After leaving Wainui Falls we took the steep, winding gravel track up over the hill to the small settlement of Totaranui. Located on the edge of Abel Tasman National Park we planned to use it as a base to do a couple of tracks in the National Park.
We headed out around the inlet and as we started to climb into the forest we spotted the water taxi arriving in Totaranui through a gap in the trees. Many of the walks in the National Park can be done by catching a water taxi for part of the way, but we decided to find a couple of shorter tracks to put together instead. We continued to climb following the ridge out towards the headland, the dense forest made it difficult to get a sense of where we were and how far we had climbed.
Eventually we reached a small break in the trees and we were able to look out over the crescent shaped beaches of Abel Tasman National Park. The sun had broken through the clouds making the water look almost turquoise. The path looped back around to the main Abel Tasman coastal track and we joined the main trail out to the first of the bays in the northern section of the park.
Almost without warning, the forest thinned and we found ourselves on the beach. We found a quiet spot on the sand and had our picnic before planning our route for the afternoon.
The main coastal track continues along the beach for a while before once again heading into the forest. We decided to continue on towards the next set of coves making our way along the undulating coastal track. After a few glimpses of the ocean, the track finally turned sharply and through a gap in the forest we were able to glimpse the next beaches far below us.
We made our way down to the beach, this time having the golden sand almost to ourselves. After a quick stop for afternoon snack we started to retrace our steps back towards Totaranui.
We arrived back in Totaranui and after stopping to read a little about the history of this settlement we went to take a quick look at the beach here, one of the longest in the National Park.
The wind had started to pick up and we discovered that the water taxis had all been cancelled for the afternoon. We gratefully headed back to the car, glad that we had decided to drive over to the start of our hike.