Whangaruru North Head Scenic Reserve - Sandy Bay end

Submitted by Mirabilis on Tue, 01/06/2015 - 18:17

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Start of track Sandy Bay end

Description

This is a beautiful scenic 2.5 hour walk through native bush and a couple of wetlands with views opening up of Bland Bay, Ocean Beach, offshore to the Poor Knights Islands and of Whangaruru Harbour itself.

Be warned the track is pretty steep most of the way and requires a reasonable level of fitness. The track starts just off the road at Sandy Bay and then comes out at Admirals Bay (or vice versa), you then walk along the road back to your starting point. If you want to do a shorter walk there is a track out about half way along that comes out at the Puriri Bay camp site. The Puriri Bay - Admirals Bay section of the track is a bit better maintained with lots of stairs while the Sandy Bay end is a bit more natural so could be quite slippery when wet.

We saw fantails, silver eyes and tomtits in the bush, pukeko on the way in and oyster catchers on the shore where we landed our dinghy.