Overview
About Pitt Head Lookout
Why stop
- Coastal views toward Torrent Bay and north along the park.
Heads up
- The lookout requires a 3.2 km walking loop from Anchorage.
Pitt Head Lookout is a coastal viewpoint on a forested headland at the southern end of Abel Tasman National Park. You reach it on foot from Anchorage, and it makes most sense as a loop that also visits Te Pukatea Bay, not a quick roadside stop. The payoff is a broad view back toward Torrent Bay and north along the coast.
Parkwolf’s verdictA worthwhile detour from AnchorageMap
Where it is
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Abel Tasman Tour Guide
Your drive to Pitt Head Lookout, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Abel Tasman National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
More stories near here in the app
- Mārahau and Te Waharoa
- Abel Tasman Centre
- A Fern's Hidden Generation
- 23 audio storiesacross Abel Tasman’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Kea, New Zealand Fur Seal, Little Penguin, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 43 trails, 65 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
More about Pitt Head Lookout
Take the loopThe Anchorage–Pitt Head–Te Pukatea Bay loop is about 3.
The Anchorage–Pitt Head–Te Pukatea Bay loop is about 3.2 km; allow around 1½ hours for the full walk. You can take a water taxi to Anchorage; walking there from Marahau adds a 3–4 hour leg. Te Pukatea makes a good beach break or swim stop if you have time, but there’s no food service on the loop. DOC advises treating park water, and filtered water is available only at Tōtaranui.
Look north from the headlandFrom Pitt Head, look toward Torrent Bay and along the coast to the north.
From Pitt Head, look toward Torrent Bay and along the coast to the north. A small wooded rock islet sits off the point; include it in the foreground to give your photo depth, with the line of wooded headlands beyond it.
A name from NelsonPitt Head takes its name from Albert Pitt, a Nelson solicitor and member of Parliament who…
Pitt Head takes its name from Albert Pitt, a Nelson solicitor and member of Parliament who acquired land that included the headland around 1900. The peninsula was acquired for the park in 1967.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Abel Tasman
10 sightingsKeaMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
54 sightingsNew Zealand Fur SealMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
20 sightingsLittle PenguinMost seen around 9 PMSighting map
21 sightingsSouth Island KākāMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
526 sightingsWekaMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
16 sightingsTūīMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Abel Tasman. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
