Whariwharangi Hut

Whariwharangi Hut is the northernmost Great Walk hut on the Abel Tasman Coast Track: a restored, one-and-a-half-storey timber farmhouse in a grassy clearing near Whariwharangi Bay. With 20 bunks, it makes most sense as an overnight on the track, or a long walk for the old homestead and beach. From Wainui car park, allow about 5.7 km and two hours on foot each way; from Tōtaranui via Gibbs Hill Track, it is about 9 km and three hours. Book ahead: huts and campsites on the Coast Track require separate reservations year-round.

The ground floor has a bunkroom, a storage room and a large shared room; two smaller bunkrooms are upstairs. There is no gas cooking or installed lighting, so bring a portable stove and fuel, plus candles. The water supply is untreated; treat it before drinking. A wood fire and the old farmhouse layout give the shared space a cozier feel than a standard bunk hut. The nearby campsite is a separate booking, and its campers cannot use the hut facilities.

John Handcock built the house around 1896 and lived in the valley with his family for 15 years. The last residents left in 1926, but farming continued until 1972. In 1980 the Abel Tasman Park Board restored and significantly altered the homestead for tramping use. Inside, the built-in staircase and timber wall panelling are among the details that survived from the house's earlier life.

Whariwharangi Bay's roughly one-kilometre beach is a short walk from the hut, with views across Golden Bay toward Farewell Spit. For a photo of the building, step back into the clearing and include the full veranda, red roof and brick chimney; a tight crop loses the farmhouse scale.