Waiuku Forest South End - Jan 2020

Edmund Carter-Anderson
Jan 5, 2020
4 min read

Updated: Feb 2, 2020

In the outskirts of Auckland lies this hidden gem of a walk area.

We had a few troubles getting there today. Courtney (Rosa's owner) messaged me saying she had car trouble and we should postpone. So being the nanna I am climbed back into bed. Once in bed the dogs were crying non stop (as they were excited because I had packed the walking bad) and I couldn't get to sleep. Luckily she messaged me again saying she found the manual over-ride to the petrol flap and we are good to go. So we packed up the kids (Ed, Rosa and Hux) then ventured out to Waiuku. Which from near city centre where we live took roughly 1hr plus a quick iced coffee stop to prepare us for the walk.

Waiuku forest has it all : off-leash bush walks, beach and river areas.Bordering the Waikato river, there are picturesque views of Port Waikato and the Tasman Sea it is a favorite place for a weekend adventure.

Waiuku Forest (WF) is managed by Crown forestry is is used for steel mining, grazing livestock and other forestry activities but this doesn't stop us from having fun. There are a few warnings about high wind and boarding the firing range (although these are mainly at the northern end which we will talk about at a later date).

The forest is open from 7am - 6pm daily but I recommend checking the link for events that are on in the forest such as 4WD or horse events that will impact your walk. These events aren't common but it is worth checking since it is so far away and will impact your walk.

We drove into the Ghezzies Road entrance of the forest and down to Bell Road then onto River Road where we parked in that car park. From here the boys and Rosa enjoyed zooming around the riverbed.

The locals in WF are slowly sign posting the trails to make it easier for everyone but we still managed to get lost. From the river opening we almost walked the whole way along the beach to the mining site. Luckily we realized where we were and started to back track a little to cut back up into a trail. From here we walked up and down random signed tracks in the forest (which we also on mini maps attached to gates).

We walked the Waterside walk (pink) until half way between the beach car-park and the mine corner (where the yellow road bends). From here we tried not to get shredded by cutty grass and gorse while we headed across to the light red "Molloy" road. We leashed the dogs just to be safe and walked up the Prospector road (dark green) until we hit Pioneer then did a sharp right turn down a shortcut road to the main river road back to the car-park.

We came across one other person with dogs on the river and one small group on horseback along the around the world area. Everyone was respectful and kept to themselves, the horses took a different route to us to ensure we both had space. I leashed the boys around the horses as Ed is afraid of horses in his space and its best not to spook anyone.

These tracks in the forest are fenced, easily identifiable and have easy to see and read signs at intersections. The only real thing is you need to know where you are going.

While the walk wasn't physically as long as I would have liked it ( only 5.54 Km / 3.45 Miles) the dogs had a great time zooming up and down with pine cones, paddling around and sniffing everything. It took us roughly 2 hours but we stopped a lot for photos and so the dogs could play zoomies.

Map photos below by Courtney ( thanks )

For some reason along the river today there were a lot of dead orange carp looking fish, jelly fish and other dead sea creatures (probably due to the strong winds and ocean recently). The boys don't scavenge but it would be worth paying attention to your pets to avoid them eating dead things if that is what they do. Rosa thought Eau De Carcass was a nice smell and couldn't stop rolling on them so there is also that.

The walk itself is super easy - easy with only the occasional gently sloping trail however the sand is extremely soft and you sink into it as you walk. The whole way including in the forest so you really get a bit of a work out in trying to lift your feet up out of the sand all the time. That is all part of the fun though right?