Parking
Park at Wainui Bay Car Park at the end of McShane Road. Start through the Abel Tasman Coast Track gateway and take the left branch at the Gibbs Hill junction.
Overview
About Wainui Bay Beach Walk
Why go
- A short, easy route reaches the inlet beach below wooded headlands.
Heads up
- The final approach is less formed than the gravel access track.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Abel Tasman map
Full mapElevation0–26 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Abel Tasman Tour Guide
Your drive to Wainui Bay Beach Walk, 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.
Recorded for this trailhead
Wainui Bay Coast Track Entrance0:00 / 0:26
“Wainui Bay's Coast Track entrance is coming up. The walk to Whariwharangi Bay takes about four hours return, with a climb over a saddle each way, so save it for a proper half-day outing.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Abel Tasman Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Protection Beneath the Water
- From Granite to Golden Sand
- A Snail That Hunts Worms
- Pigeon Saddle and Awapoto Hut
- 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!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Wainui Bay Beach Walk
What the walk isWainui Bay Beach Walk is a short out-and-back from Wainui Bay Car Park to Wainui Beach,…
Wainui Bay Beach Walk is a short out-and-back from Wainui Bay Car Park to Wainui Beach, following the coast-track access before branching left toward the shore. The mapped approach is about 1.1 km each way, or 1.4 miles round trip; published figures vary, so treat the distance as approximate. Allow 45–60 minutes to walk to the beach and back, plus any time on the sand. It’s an easy way to reach the inlet shore without taking the longer climb over Gibbs Hill.
Finding the beachStart through the carved gateway and follow the wide gravel path for roughly 400 m to the…
Start through the carved gateway and follow the wide gravel path for roughly 400 m to the junction. Take the left branch for the beach; the right branch climbs over Gibbs Hill toward Whariwharangi. The gravel gives way to a less formed track near the coast. The mapped walk ends at the beach entrance; wandering along the sand adds distance.
At the inletWainui Beach fronts a vegetated sandbar at the inlet mouth.
Wainui Beach fronts a vegetated sandbar at the inlet mouth. From the sand, views reach Uarau Point and Abel Tasman Point, with Farewell Spit farther away. If you continue beyond the beach toward Uarau Bay or Taupō Point, you’re on a longer coastal route: the notch at the next headland is tide-dependent, so check the tide before going farther. Dogs aren’t allowed on the Department of Conservation track.
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.
