New Zealand TravelAuckland Is New Zealand’s most populated city and called The City Of Sails for a good reason, as there are more sailing yachts per head of population moored here than anywhere else in New Zealand.
But the yachting is not just the only reason to visit this place, Auckland city lays in the shadow of the stunning Waitakere Ranges a massive playground of more than 27,000 hectares it is a diverse mountain range of rainforests stunning beaches and a rugged coastline.
Arataki Visitor Center
Exploring the Waitakere Ranges starts with the Arataki Visitor Center, located on Scenic Drive In Auckland the visitor center is full of local knowledge and a great place to start exploring the Waitakere Ranges, information about flora and fauna local walking tracks and other notable experiences can be found here.
Waitakere Ranges Regional Park
One of the best attractions of the Waitakere Ranges are the endless walking trails dotted all through the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, the most recognized is the Hillary Trail which starts at the Arataki Visitor Center and ends at Muriwai Beach further north this multi day walk is a must do while in the Auckland area.
A note with the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park walks, alot of the waking tracks are closed at the moment due to Kauri Dieback, the Department of Conservation have closed these tracks to prevent further die back continuing and spreading further in the park you can check on Department of Conservation website for further details of closed walks.
Piha Beach
Piha Beach is Auckland’s premier surfing beach and a popular destination through the summer months, located on Auckland’s wild West Coast the black iron sand is common though out the area giving the black appearance of the sand which gets blistering hot in the summer sun.
Piha Beach boasts a few walks the most popular starts at the end of the southern carpark and heads up and over the headland providing a spectacular view of Lion Rock, walking further along the track takes you to Nun Rock look out and to the left takes you out to the stunning Piha Blowhole which reaches in from the coast.
Muriwai Beach
The Waitakere Ranges Regional Park is also home to another very popular beach, Muriwai, Muriwai Beach is located further north along the West Coast and like Piha boasts that infamous hot iron sands.
There are endless activities available at Muriwai Beach, swimming and surfing are popular pastimes and just south of Muriwai Beach is Māori Bay, here you can access the Gannet Colony which is only active during the breeding season a short walk along the access track allows the viewing of these birds when raising there young.
At Maori Bay there is a stunning coastal walk along the rocky coastline, low tide is preferred when walking the Maori Bay Beach and just below the carpark to the left is a spectacular cave system that has been carved out of the rock, at low tide you can access the caves for a walk through.
Manukau Heads
The Manukau Heads are a stunning place to visit located at the mouth of the Manukau Harbor and within the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park this area is full of surprises.
The Manukau Heads are accessed along a narrow metal road past Huia and up through the Rain Forests of the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, the road ends at Whatipu there are camping grounds and accommodation available here if you want to make a long weekend visit.
There are endless walking tracks located here but as with the rest of the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park a number of these walks are closed check before hand if you need to walk the tracks.
At the parking area a short walk along the sand track takes you out to Paratutae Island and the vast expanse of the wild west coast, Paratutae Island is where the sailing ships tied up during the Kauri Harvesting of days gone by there was tram track here where the logs were unloaded onto the sailing ships tied up at Paratutae Island.
