Nelson Tasman Settlement Support

A Partnership between Department of Labour and Nelson City Council

National parks, reserves and wildlife

The Nelson Tasman region has three national parks within 90 minutes of each other, and two of New Zealand’s Great Walks - the Abel Tasman Coast Track and the Heaphy Track. Great Walks are the Department of Conservation’s premier walking tracks, through some of the best scenery in the country.

The region’s national parks draw visitors from all over the world. The Abel Tasman coastline is famed as a ‘must do’ on foot or by kayak, but there are many other less famous places where you will meet fewer visitors. Find out more at the Department of Conservation counter at the Nelson Visitor Information Centre in the central city, or see the online reference for visitor information in the ‘Want to Know More’ panel on the next page, or at DOC offices in Motueka and Takaka.

Abel Tasman National Park

Torrent Bay in the Abel Tasman. At 22,530 hectares it is the country’s smallest national park and is renowned for its golden beaches, native bush, swimming with the seals, bird life, coastal walking track, and waters that are ideal for swimming and sea kayaking. Abel Tasman’s easy, undulating 51km coastal track stretches between Marahau and Wainui Bay and can be walked from either direction - independently or guided. Most visitors take three to five days to complete the full length, though you can take a water taxi part of the way. A number of tourist boat operators offer day excursions and drop-offs for walkers. Department of Conservation campsites and huts need to be booked over summer. Because there are pockets of private land within the park there are also some stylish accommodation options.

Nelson Lakes National Park

Nelson Lakes National Park is located south of Nelson. It is home to the northernmost peaks of the Southern Alps. This 102,000ha park is centred on two beautiful alpine lakes, Rotoiti and Rotoroa, both surrounded by steep mountains with shoreline coverage of dense beech forest. You can find more on challenging tramping and well serviced huts at the Department of Conservation visitor centre at St Arnaud.

Kahurangi National Park

Kahurangi means ‘treasured possession’, ‘precious jewel’, ‘pale greenstone’ and ‘blue sky’. The remote and rugged park was created in 1996, and encompasses the Mount Arthur Range and the Heaphy Track from Golden Bay to the West Coast. Kahurangi, at 452,002ha, is New Zealand’s second-largest national park. It contains New Zealand’s most extensive forest, stretching from the coast to the mountaintops of the Mount Arthur Range.

Kahurangi is home to New Zealand’s largest species of snail, the carnivorous Powelliphanta superba prouseorum, which measures up to 90mm wide. These are the Sumo wrestlers of the snail world, weighing in at 90g. They eat earthworms, are a threatened species and one of the many oddities of New Zealand’s unique evolution that was free of mammalian predators.