Te Waharoa (Mārahau Park Entrance)

Te Waharoa is the carved entrance at Mārahau, the southern gateway to the Abel Tasman Coast Track. It stands beside the information kiosk and DOC’s road-end car park; a boardwalk passes under it and continues toward the coast. This is one of the main ways onto the track, and it’s worth pausing to read the carvings instead of treating the gate as only a marker. If you’re here just for the entrance, it’s a short cultural stop rather than a separate beach or viewpoint.

For a photo, frame the carved opening with the boardwalk continuing behind it, then walk around to see both faces. They tell different stories, so one front-on shot misses half the work.

The first section crosses the Marahau causeway, passes through open country, then enters beech forest with large kānuka before winding through gullies toward Anchorage Bay. Mārahau is one of four main Coast Track entry points. DOC lists access by walking, kayak or water taxi; book water-taxi travel ahead. Longer trips need more planning because crossings farther north, including Awaroa Inlet, depend on the tide.

DOC commissioned the waharoa as part of bringing tangata whenua stories back into the park. Master carver Mark Davis of Nelson made it from tōtara sourced on the West Coast, and Manawhenua iwi and DOC developed its narrative together. The carvings recall migrations south in the 1820s: Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Koata and Ngāti Toa Rangatira from Kāwhia and Tainui waka, and Ngāti Tama and Te Ātiawa from Taranaki and Tokomaru waka, seeking land, food, water and other resources. Waka and mountains point back to their homelands.

Some panels show Rongo-mā-Tāne, atua of peace and cultivated food, and Tūmatauenga, atua of war. In the story, they belong to a Mārahau rich in food and contested by those who lived here. Lower motifs represent the Motueka and Riuwaka rivers and caves beneath Piki-ki-runga (Tākaka Hill). The other side turns to the natural world, with Tama-nui-te-Rā, Tāwhirimātea, Tāne Mahuta, Haumia-tiketike and Papatūānuku. Look all the way around: the gateway moves from the story of arrival to a reminder of guardianship and care for the land.

Mārahau is translated as “windy garden,” a name tied to a place rich in food: tuangi cockles, marine life, forest birds and cultivated crops. Local accounts also note its summer afternoon winds. The name makes the gateway’s story feel grounded in this particular coast, not just in the park as a whole.

Mārahau is 67 km from Nelson by sealed road. DOC provides a road-end car park, where vehicles are left at the owner’s risk, and public toilets are mapped nearby. The open-sided timber kiosk has information and map boards for orienting yourself before setting off. Dogs aren’t allowed in the national park, including on the Coast Track.