The Te Paki Track is three-four blissful days of walking on remote white beaches around the top of New Zealand with stunning coastal scenery where you’ll see two oceans collide.
If you’re looking for something a little different from the Great Walks or back-country treks in New Zealand then this hike might be perfect. However, it all hinges on the time of year you walk it.
Mosquitos on the Te Paki Track and the heat can both put a serious dint in the fun factor for this walkway so here’s hoping you find the perfect window.
This walk is as far north as you can get in New Zealand.
You will trek past the famous Cape Reinga Lighthouse which attracts a healthy tourist pilgrimage and it’s also where you will see the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet.
How to get there
Unless you live in Northland, getting to the start point for this walk is a very long drive from Auckland at around six hours to Waitiki Landing. The ‘last gate North’ is literally the last place to get gas, accommodation and food before tourists drive on to Cape Reinga. We drove up on a holiday weekend and did not arrive till after 5pm, so spent a night in the accommodation there. They have bunks in a dormitory, cabins with ensuites and a communal kitchen.
It’s where you can leave your car and get the shuttle to the start of the walk.
The Te Paki Track is not a full circuit so either you pay for a drop off/pick up shuttle, hitch a ride or relocate your cars at the Te Paki Stream or Kapowairua (Spirits Bay) campground. The last option is not the safest and the first option is a little pricey at $NZ80 each but they store your car while you’re away and last time I checked, no one else was offering this service.
Plenty of people have found it easy to hitch to the start and back.
The Walk (clockwise from Te Paki Stream)
It doesn’t matter which way you hike the Te Paki track, we encountered more people going from Te Paki Stream and finishing at Spirits Bay but it wasn’t very busy and the camp sites we stayed in were never full.
Day 1 was from Te Paki Stream, following the stream itself, to 90 Mile Beach. You walk along the northern part of 90 Mile Beach until to hit the headland. It’s then up over Scott’s Point to Twilight. It takes around 4’30 hours to get to Twilight camp site which has a small open shelter with seating and toilets. There are NO DOC huts on this walk at any point.
Day 2 of Te Paki track involves a bit of beach walking. You leave Twilight and head up over Cape Maria Van Diemen with its golden sand dunes then along the beautiful Te Werahi Beach and up to Cape Reinga.
It’s slightly weird crossing through the throngs of people who are walking out to the lighthouse after hours of solitude but it’s here you will see the two oceans colliding.
You then head down across the headland to Tapotupotu Campground. This campground can be accessed by car so over a holiday weekend it was pretty busy but there is a section for hiker’s tents and we got a spot looking over the beach. Great to end the day with a swim. Walk time approximately 6’30 hours.
Day 3 starts off up a steep hill out of the Tapotupotu Campground with some great views at the top along the coast. There are no remote beaches to walk today – it’s up through bush and hills and gradually down to what we found was a pretty overgrown campsite of Pandora.
It’s great to set up camp in the overgrown grass Of Pandora then high tail it down to the nearby beach for a swim. Be warned, rats and mice seem to be quite at home at this campsite.
They tried to get into our bags at night and were constantly rummaging through other campers food in the open shelter. Don’t leave anything out – even the soap by the DOC toilet had rats teeth in it – they will eat anything.
Day 4 – we had to kick off early to get to the Spirits Bay campground for a morning shuttle pick-up. First you go over a hill and down through the lagoon across a wooden walkway to access the beach. Unfortunately the tide was high once we were on the beach and it made walking exhausting and difficult in the soft sand of Kapowairua. It seems like the end of the bay never gets any close. After around three hours of walking and a lot of uncomfortable soft sand, you’ll finally get to the campground.
Mosquitos & Heat on the Te Paki Track
We did this hike during Easter – the pesky mosquitos were fairly manageable but friends who have done the Te Paki Track in summer have sworn it was a miserable experience. The other thing to consider is the heat and water. You are walking in mostly direct sunlight, along beaches, dunes and up on coastal ridge lines with a bit of bush walking so it can get hot and there are limited places to get water. Each of the three campgrounds have water – so fill up before you leave in the morning. There’s apparently a tap at Cape Reinga (we never found it) and we found none of the streams we passed were running with water so I wouldn’t rely on them for a refill.
Wondering what to pack for the Te Paki Track? Here’s some tips.
