Whareroa Farm - Paekākāriki

Mr and Mrs Walking with Kids
19 hours ago
3 min read

Sunds 20 January 2025

Location: The southern end of Emerald Glen Road, Paekākāriki 5034

We discovered Whareroa Farm completely by accident.

Driving along the northern end of Transmission Gully, we were doing that thing where you stare at the hills and say, “I wonder where those tracks go?”

Mrs Walkingwithkids opened AllTrails before we’d even finished the sentence. A cluster of tracks popped up. Not just one lonely line — a whole network. Which is when we realised… we weren’t just looking at hills. We were looking at a park. The rest of the drive home was spent planning a walk based on contour lines and optimism. The online info was a little light, but there was enough to confirm two things: there were views, and there would be hills.

And honestly? That’s usually all we need.

The big day came a couple of weeks later when we turned off SH1 at McKay’s Crossing and followed the signs to the entrance. We were quite surprised with what we found. The park is large and caters to walker’s mountain bikers and horse riders.

The car park is generous (always a good start), and the entrance features a solid shelter packed with maps and information boards — the kind where you stand there nodding confidently while quietly trying to work out which coloured line you’re actually meant to follow.

Our planned route was to take the Western Hill Track and head up to the lookouts. The map made it look confusing, but it was quite obvious once we got going.

Our first stop was up to the Coastal Lookout Track to meet the Western Hills Track for a quick stop and a bite. It’s not very far but it was a hot sunny day, so we thought that milestone justified a doughnut break.

From that lookout we crossed over into the working farm. There was little cover as we marched higher and higher up the hill. There were plenty of opportunities to stop and turn around to enjoy a view while catching our breath. Along tracks, past curious sheep and through beds of wildflowers we went until we reached the Pond Lookout where we stopped for another break at the picnic table. There were a couple of times we lost sight of the track markers, but it was pretty clear where we were heading, especially armed with the map.

From the Pond Lookout we headed up again. It was a little stepper towards the top so Miss 10 required more encouragement to reach the Mamaku Lookout. Knowing it was all downhill from there we greedily scoffed the last of our snacks in celebration and enjoyed the spectacular view.

Crossing out of the farm and into the bush the Mamaku Track was a steep cut down. We decided going clockwise was definitely the right decision. Down through the bush and into the valley below it was nice to finally be in some shade.

At the bottom we turned right and made our way back towards the carpark.

There are a couple of tracks back, but we took the Gum Loop Track and then the Forest Loop and would recommend these. The bush was beautiful with old gums, nikau palms and ferns. There were educational plaques, weta hotels and all manner of things for the kids to find.