A Coastal Hike rivalling the Abel Tasman

25/01/18 ~ 26/01/18

Te Paki Coastal Track

The Te Paki Coastal Track was a hike I had planned to do for some time. It is on the most northern point of New Zealand around Cape Regina. It’s not officially a ‘great walk’ of New Zealand, but it could be one of the next additions – it’s good for now, because it’s quite free of people!

There are a few ways you can do this particular hike in 3-4 days. It is possible to do it without hitting a paid campsite, but it means that you must do it in a 3 day hike with a shorter 9-10km first and last day, and a longer 28-30km day in between.

This suits me, as I parked my car near the main road inbetween the start and the finish of the trail – shorter days to get to, and from the trail mean hitching is easier (more traffic in the middle of the day).

Day 1

It was a 4:30pm start – I got the first hitch within seconds from the turnoff near the petrol station from a nice local Maori guy, but the second took about 20 minutes – a Swedish couple. I was tempted to camp with them, but worried I wouldn’t get back to my car in time (worried about a break in) and wanted to do the hike in 3 days.

Setting off from Spirit Bay campground was a beautiful start. It was a damn nice scallop shaped bay, with beautiful sand and blue water. The beach hiking section was about 7km long, and the final bush track to Pandora Bay was about 2km.

Between these sections is a board walk over the tidal estuary and many small birds defending their nests by obnoxiously swooping and squawking.

The campsite features a hexagonal sheltered pergola to sit and cook in, a sink and water tap, and two pit toilets. It had also just rained and mosquitoes were in their millions.

Day 2

It was decided this morning instead of doing the final camp and beach walk, I’d take the right trail back to the main road and hitch back to my car from there. Having too many expensive possessions in the car peaked my anxiety of having them stolen.

I didn’t want to leave my car in a remote area for more than a night (I learned after you can actually contact Watiki Landing for car storage whilst in trail – this was never mentioned in the source I had).

The early morning hiking began by heading out if Pandora Camp and up along the cliffs and ridge heading towards Cape Regina.

The views along the coast were sensational. Bright blue waters, and relatively gentle waves caressing the rocks below (it was a calm day for wind). It was quite misty at one point and I had eerie views, making me think I was in the mountains.

I passed through Tapotoputu campsite, and found it teeming with car campers, and feeling glad I didn’t camp there. Refilling water was the only necessity here. These campsites are all pumped from nearby streams, and they advise boiling, but I’m happy to just use my Sawyer Squeeze filter for stream water.

The detour to Cape Regina Lighthouse had to be done just to have that northernmost point feeling. This was the only other place I really found tourists before seeing off along the north-western corner of the cape.

It was another semi-long beach walk to the huge dunes in the distance. It was nearing lunchtime by now, so once shade was found – energy was restored with some fruit and wraps.

I met some other day trippers at the end of the long beach, who had hiked in via a different point – two girls from Wales and another couple.

The next section was sand dune hiking, and I must admit, I enjoyed it! This hike had a little bit of everything with terrain. It felt like I was in a semidesert area.

There was a side trip to a small peninsula and small lighthouse that I didn’t have time to do, but as I passed it, I feel like it would have been an awesome place to spend a day and end camp there.

I had already done quite a large day up until this point, and I decided that after the dune section, this was a good exit point. Twilight camp (where you’d normally go for the final night) was only an hour and a half away, but this was the only other trail out, so I took it.

It was mostly hiking back through someone’s property to get back to the main road. The two Welsh girls I met early arrived at the small carpark here shortly after me, and gave me a hitch back down to my car about 10-15km down the road. I bought them a coffee each and we parted ways.

Overall it was a great coastal hike that I wish I got to spend a second night on. The mosquitoes were the most intense I’ve ever seen however, which often meant of an evening you are confined to your tent of protection.

It’s important to grab 2L of water at the campsites as there wasn’t really any non-brackish sources.

Your Donation Really Helps!

In order to support the travelling and hiking community, I spend many hours per week or month to adequately document all information and advice for prospective visitors, accompanied by a (hopefully) entertaining insight into my personal experiences. This service is, and will remain, free. However, running a non-profit website and spending time creating content comes with financial and personal costs.