23 May 2013

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Tawharanui Beach Walk at low tide

Tawharanui Beach Walk at low tide

Location: North Island Auckland

Nearest Town: Warkworth 26k

Nearest City: Auckland 87.4k

Length of tramp: 7.3k

Time needed: 2 hours 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy, but watch out for the tides

Route: Round trip

Elevation: Sea level to 91m

Wet Feet: No

Toilets: On the beach at the entrance to the park.

Dogs: Absolutely not

Mobile phone coverage: Yes

Date this tramp was last walked: 2007

Track quality: Very good track, from coastal beach walk to grassy farm track.

Shops/restaurants:

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Hazards: Walking along the beach at high tide

Transport: No

Water: At the entrance to the park

Driving Instructions:

A Bit of a drive, but worth it. Head north on State Highway 1. Drive over the harbour bridge and onto Warkworth town ship. 67k. Drive past the turn off to Warkworth shopping centre, and onto the only traffic lights on the highway. TURN right, look for the sign to Leigh town ship. On the Matakana Road. 8.9k along this road is the township of Matakana. Stop here on a Saturday morning for the fresh produce markets, all grown by the locals. Highly recommended. Across the road is also a very enjoyable but naughty bakery. 1.7k pasted Matakana on the right, turn off to Tawharanui Regional Park. This road is windy and narrow and 13k long, 5k at the end is gravel. The road around the park HQ is sealed. The next thing that will catch your eye and make you stop is the 2.4k long predator fence. It is to keep out the possums, feral cats, rats and dogs. The goal is to achieve a pest free park. So the native birds such as tui, fantail, dotterel and slinks can recover. There is a plan to reintroduce the Tuatara lizard and the endangered kiwi, but don’t fear, they will let you out. Drive around to the lagoon, this would only be about 200m till you see the car park and a information board. Pull in there. This is the first time I have seen so much lush green grass in a park. Good place for a picnic.

Camping on track: No

Track highlights: Farmland, beach and views. You are very close to Kawau Island. And great views of Whangaparaoa Bay.

Map of Tawharanui Beach walk at low tide :

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Detailed track description for
Tawharanui Beach walk at low tide:

Tawharanui Beach Walk at low tide - Point 1

Click on photos to enlarge

ONLY AT LOW TIDE.

To Maori Bay via Beach 3.8k - 1h 20 min

At the car park, cross over the walk bridge. Carry on to the base of the hill. Don’t jump the fence. Walk around to the right and follow the lagoon to the outlet.

With the tide out you will not get your feet wet. The first 20 min is good going, not a lot of rocks and a couple of beautiful beaches.

Tawharanui Beach Walk at low tide - Point 2

Click on photos to enlarge

You can spend a lot of time exploring the rock pools; looking for shells and watching the native birds flying around try to catch their lunch. The next sandy beach is Bluebell point. From here Maori Bay is only 20 min away. Keep away from the long grass, this is the nesting spot set aside for the Dotterel sea birds. When you arrive at Maori Bay there is a small grassy area, the track is to your left and climbs to a great spot to have lunch and enjoy the views. Another 2 min and you will be at the turn off to the South Coast Walk.

Tawharanui Beach Walk at low tide - Point 3

Click on photos to enlarge

From Maori Bay back to car park via South Coast Walk 3.5k – 1h 10 min

At the South Coast Walk turn off, turn left on to a very pleasurable county walk. There are a couple of small patches of native scrub to walk through. We were lucky on this walk; the farmer had just mowed the track for us to walk on.

Tawharanui Beach Walk at low tide - Point 4

Click on photos to enlarge

Once out of the gully you walk along the cliff top, there are a small number of little hills to walk up and down, but nothing to get a sweat over. The views are first-class. There is a hand full of farm grates to open and close, plus farm stock to talk to if you are that way inclined. Don’t worry about the stock they are trained to respect tourist, but they might try to catch you out with the odd patch of green sticky stuff, so watch where you put your feet. At the point of the ridge, you will be able to look down on to the car park. Follow the marker posts down to the fence and back to the car.

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