Saturday 27th August 2022
Location: Turn right off Titahi Bay Road onto Onepoto Road, park at the end of the boatsheds (it's a dead end). There's another entrance on the other side at Onehunga Bay - but we're all about petrol conservation at the moment :)
Firstly, this is an awesome walk! It's around 5-6km, we took about 2 hour's but we stopped a lot as the kids kept getting distracted (read on). It's quite exposed so we were glad we had our puffers and hats, especially on the way back along the coast.
We parked at the end of Onepoto Road and started northwards.
Miss 7 kept popping down to the beach, filling her pockets with treasures. She now does a sniff test before popping things into her pockets after she discovered one of her treasures had a very unpleasant smell.
The track is wide and well maintained. We passed lots of bikers and dog walkers.
The kids found a tired looking bumblebee, so Miss 7 made him a little shelter.
On the return we checked how he was getting along, and he was gone (to the glee of Miss 7 who had obviously saved his life).
We've had a couple of months of rain so had a few puddles to jump.
We then arrived at Te Onepoto Bay (probably just 10 minutes along, but we'd already rescued a bumblebee and collected a dozen treasures so for us it was more like 30 minutes). It was beautiful! The kids ran down to the entrance to check if they could cross the stones. The tide was too high though, so we stuck to the path (albeit with wet feet now).
There's a little bridge at the top of the bay, here the track splits into the loop. We decided to head inland (and uphill), walking clockwise around the track.
There is a little climb as you wind up to the top of the hill, nothing too strenuous.
Once at the top the view is gorgeous. We loved the green with the backdrop of the sea. Here we discovered a toilet, although everyone was quick to decide they no longer needed to "go toilet". From here the track wound back down towards the coast.
We popped out at the Onehunga Bay carpark, there is a toilet here which the kids thought was a lot less suspicious.
Taking a right at the carpark we followed the path back along the coastline.
This was extremely slow going, mainly because precariously climbing and jumping off rocks is one of our favourite pastimes. There are lots of rock pools too, we didn't explore these as we were already on a go slow. Next time! While it's still winter it would be amazing to bring along togs, the GWRC website says Whitireia Park is very popular with families because of its safe swimming beaches...sounds like we need to come back in summer.
We walked along the track and the kids walked along the rocky shoreline - bliss being able to have an uninterrupted adult conversation:) The beach walkers collected even more treasures. Honestly, how do you tell a 7 & 10 year old that a used glow stick is actually rubbish :P
Once we got back to Te Onepoto Bay the kids made us recheck the entrance to the bay as the tide had gone down (they love a good shortcut). We decided it was crossable and all made it safely across without getting wet feet. So much fun and only 10 min back to the car.
Amazing Porirua - such a stunning piece of Wellington!
Age of Kids: Miss 7 and Master 10
Walking Time: 1.5-2 hours
Length: 5-6km
Difficulty: Easy (because you can just do as much as you want, great path and heaps for the kids to see)
Buggy Friendly: Would be a tough buggy ride - maybe doable? hmmm
Wet Feet: No (but more than likely yes, if you're under 10 years old :P)
Amenities: There's a toilet at the Onepoto Road carpark and one at Onehunga Bay (plus a bonus: very suspicious looking one at the top of the hill)
Dogs: Yes, though on lead most of the way.
Cellphone Reception: Yes