Kina Beach

Kina Beach covers 5.4 km, near Tasman in Nelson-Tasman.

The long open beach on Tasman Bay between the Motueka side of the bay and the Kina Peninsula, about 12 km south-east of Motueka. Turn off the Coastal Highway at Tasman onto Kina Beach Road and follow it out to the coast; the council’s Kina Beach Recreation Reserve, a camping reserve with parking, sits right on the beach and is the entry Alice, Jake and Sadie sent in. From there the beach runs both ways. The line on this page is the whole of the council’s controlled exercise area, out and back in each direction from the reserve: about 500 m south-east to where the area ends near the tip of the Kina Peninsula, and about 2.2 km north-west to its far end, 5.4 km in total if you do both. Pick one direction for a shorter walk. It is beach walking the whole way, gravel and sand with no formed track, and the sand is widest on a falling tide. Tasman District Council lists Kina Beach in Schedule 2 of its Dog Control Policy and Bylaw 2024 as a controlled exercise area, described as the exposed seaward side of the beach, finishing at the northern end of the Kina Esplanade Reserve. That means a dog may be off the leash here but must stay under effective control, and the bylaw asks every owner to carry a leash in any public place and to put the dog on it whenever it might injure, endanger or distress any person, stock, domestic animal or protected wildlife. The bylaw reads its beaches as the whole sanded area and the adjoining dunes. The reserve and the road behind the beach are not part of the scheduled area, so keep the dog close through the campground. The north end is the one to get right. The council’s dog control map runs the next area straight on from the end of the Kina Beach area: the Foreshore and Estuary around L.E.H. Baigent Memorial Reserve is a Schedule 4 dogs prohibited area, which the council says is there to protect significant bird habitat and ecological rehabilitation work, and the Motueka Sandspit beyond it is prohibited too. There is nothing on the sand to mark the change, so go by the map: the turn on this page is about 2.2 km from the reserve, where the coast bends north towards the Baigent reserve, and the line stops there. At the other end the controlled area finishes near the point of the peninsula; the beach around the point and the Moutere Inlet side are not in any schedule, so the bylaw’s general rule of under control at all times applies there, and this page maps only the scheduled beach. Shorebirds feed and roost along this coast, which is why the neighbouring areas are closed to dogs, so a lead goes on the moment birds are working the tideline. There is no shade on the beach and the sea is open Tasman Bay, so carry water on a warm day. Kina Beach Road has houses along it and the reserve is outside the scheduled area, so keep the dog on the lead until you are on the sand.

Graded easy, it climbs about 82 m overall, and takes about 1 hr 12 min to walk.

Dogs are welcome here. This walk is on the map because Alice & Jake & Sadie suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.