What a hike! I’d heard so many great reviews of this track but I was not at all prepared for the number of stairs involved. Imagine a lot of stairs. Double it. It was more than that.
That’s a slight exaggeration, of course, although we did climb the equivalent of one and a half Empire State Buildings (160 floors!).
The drive up to Omanawanui was wet, misty and eerie. After Huia, the tarmac turns into gravel road, full of potholes and old landslips – not the sort of road that should be traversed in a VW Golf, like we did! – and you spend a while climbing into the ranges. We parked in the lay-by where the track intersects the Whatipu Road and began our walk from there.
We started with a slow descent through the bush on these elevated paths. It was still chilly and damp, actually in the cloud layers in some places, but by the time we’d started climbing, the clouds had begun to clear. We were treated to some amazing views across the Manukau Harbour and back over the Waitakere hills, and naively believed that that uphill would be as difficult as it got!
The descent following the highest point comprised thousands of steps down, including a section that involved using a chain to climb over an old lava flow. The thick bush all around felt very Jurassic, like at any moment a diplodocus might rear its head out of the greenery and start chomping on a leaf.
We had actually intended to walk all the way along to Whatipu beach, but after seeing the sheer distance down, we realised we didn’t have it in us to make it all the way down and back up. Sometimes hiking is about recognising your own limits and knowing that if you pushed it to the end, you might not make it back so easily. We diverted to the lookout over the signal house and admired the beach from above. Perhaps I’ll go back one day and drive down to the Whatipu car park instead, although I would like to do the hike again when it’s less humid.
The way back up was much, much harder going. Regular breaks were needed, especially as the sun came out and started slowly cooking us. We’d also forgotten about the uphill waiting for us in the last kilometre, which was a pleasant surprise!
Overall, the views were gorgeous, and it definitely felt like an achievement once we’d finished it. I’ll be going back again one day in the future with more realistic expectations and preparedness. Who needs a Stairmaster when you have New Zealand nature hikes?
Distance: 6.19km
Elevation gain: 404m
Rating: 4/5
