Waoku Coach Road
This trip starts at Opononi. For advice on the state of the track contact the Waipoua Visitors Centre, phone (09) 439 3011
Take a day pack with drink and food and weather proof clothing.
Head West on SH 12 through Omapere and over Pakia Hill. Pass through Waimamaku, past Taita Road, over the bridge and take the next road on your left, Wekaweka Road.
Follow this metalled road to its end, where you will find a small car park on the right and signs leading to the DoC tracks. The track, which is marked, climbs up hill to the ridge and a t-junction.
It is possible to take the track to the left, which would bring you out at Waoku Road, Waima, but this will require the organisation of a pick-up there at the end of your walk.
Our suggestion is to take the track to the right, and walk along the old coach road as far as the ‘Honeymoon’ clearing and hut, and then return to the car park. The old coach road was built for horses and coaches and is therefore reasonably level and easy walking. There is some regrowth of trees in the road and because of the altitude and climate the track can be muddy.
But long stretches of the original cobbled road are still visible and in good condition. The major items of interest are the stone culverts and bridge abutments and the stone ‘flushings’, which are porous culverts – at low flows the water goes beneath the road surface and at high flows the water flows over the surface.