Although located within the Abel Tasman National Park, a part of Awaroa Beach remained in private ownership up until 2016.

[6] Christchurch resident Duane Major, and his brother-in-law, Adam Gardner, created an online Givealittle page.

[2] The campaign heralded an historic shift in the national psyche towards nature conservation and a willingness of New Zealanders with disposable income to protect land for public use.

When philanthropist economist Gareth Morgan, who owned a holiday house nearby, offered to top up the fund with NZ$1 million if his family had use of part of the beach, the backlash was swift.

[12] Care must be taken to avoid off-lying rocks but there is good holding and shelter from easterly and southerly winds.

Its entrance is notable for its long sandspit, shifting channels and a maze of golden sand banks that cover and uncover with the tides.

The creek is named for the scow Venture, once used to ferry goods around the coasts, now a wrecked and barely visible on the tidal flats.

[7] The Hadfield family settled and farmed near the mouth of the inlet from 1863, drawn there by the fresh water, good shelter and flat land, easy to clear and ready to fatten sheep and milking cows.

[14] In November 2006, the Hadfield family offered the clearing to the Department of Conservation, thus this significant tract of private land became incorporated into the park.

[7] By 1890, there were enough settler's children to start a school, but the roll declined, and didn't reopen after the 1931 Christmas break.

Lessons were still chalked on the blackboard, paintings done by the children hung on the walls, workbooks, pencils and slates lay on the desks and there was a thick coating of dust over everything.

[6] A rough carpark at the dead end of a tortuously winding narrow road at the lonely western corner of Awaroa Inlet.