Anchorage is the southernmost overnight stop on the Coast Track and the busiest beach in the park outside Marahau — a long, north-facing curve of sand with the Anchorage hut and a large campsite at the back. Most three-day Coast Track walkers spend their first night here.
The bay is sheltered from the prevailing westerlies and warms up reliably on a sunny day. Water taxis from Kaiteriteri and Marahau use Anchorage as a regular drop-off point, so the beach can feel crowded around lunchtime in summer; by evening, when the day-trippers have left, it returns to something like the quiet you came for. The short side trip up to Cleopatra's Pool — a series of granite-walled freshwater pools above the bay — is worth the half-hour.