Peach Cove, Whangarei Heads June 2014

Northland isn't the most popular or well known tramping destination in New Zealand; there's no snow, no towering peaks and no wide, gravelly riverbeds or glaciers. But there are quite a few good walks and easier tramps to do, which provide the opportunity to see some of New Zealand's coolest coastal scenery.

On a long weekend trip up to Auckland, my sister and I decided to head up to Whangarei Heads to check out a few of the walks up there.

The first of these was a trip to Mt Manaia. Manaia is a very dominant and distinctive peak, sitting right near the edge of Whangarei Harbour. Despite only being 403m high, it seems a lot larger than its height as it is a volcanic peak which rises straight up from the coast. It's quite a popular track and despite being a solid climb, thanks to the well built and wide track, it doesn't seem too bad at all. It only takes us 45 minutes to reach the top.

Looking towards Whangarei from the summit

Marsden Point Refinery from the summit

Looking towards the coast and Bream Head from the summit

View from side track on the way down

Although the views from the top are great (180 degrees, plus another 50 between some rocks, there's an annoyingly large rock (which is really the summit, at about 20 metres above the viewing rock, the farthest point you're allowed to go) next to the viewing platform, which prevents the views from being almost 300 degrees. You can go past this, if you really want and we try to, but there's a very narrow ledge on which to walk, a lot of loose rock and a very large drop below. And we don't even know what the views are like on the other side. So we abandon this plan and avoid risking our lives and head back down. There's another track, about a third of the way down, which provides great views to almost fill in the gap left by the rock near the summit.

The trip back down takes a similar amount of time.

The second, slightly longer, trip we do is to Peach Cove Hut in the Bream Head scenic reserve. Bream Head, as the name might suggest, is at the head of the Whangarei harbour, and only a 10 minute drive from Manaia (or about 40mins from Whangarei).

From the Peach Cove carpark, it's a solid 30 minute climb to a saddle. From the saddle, it's only a very steep 15 minutes down to the hut. However, the track is of a great walk standard and extremely well built, with steps most of the way down to the hut.

The hut is set back amongst lush coastal forest, and looks almost tropical with the Nikau palms and a large Kauri tree with its roots spread out over a large boulder. The hut is only a short distance from the serene Peach Cove.

Peach Cove Hut

Being a Sunday night, we had the hut to ourselves. Although a little shaded and dark on a June night, the eight bunk Peach Cove Hut is nice and cosy, with a bright yellow door and a large deck complete with a picnic table. Inside the hut is quite cramped, with only a very small communal area. Though it was perfect for two people.

We reached the hut about 5pm and after an hour or so of snacking and reading the paper, we cooked (well rather, put bags in a billy of boiling water) dinner ($4.50 Kaweka meals from New World - the best backcountry meals ever!).

We were very shattered from the previous night in Auckland, where we stayed at the very noisy, dirty and cramped Ibis Styles Hotel. Despite a 7am start the next day, we didn't get to sleep until 4.30am due to the noise of the bars below! At the hut, we were both asleep by 7.30 and slept for a solid 12 hours. The $15 hut accommodation sure beat the $90 a night hotel! It was just so quiet and falling asleep to the sound of the ocean and Moreporks calling out was fantastic.

Hut interior

Peach Cove

Although there are options to go along the ridge of Bream Head, to make for a longer and more challenging tramp, we headed back the way we came as we needed to head back to Auckland. 

Whangarei Heads is a beautiful and accessible area, studded with calm bays, fantastic beaches and some of the North Island's best coastal bush.