Peaks and Places | Travel and Adventure Blog

Our first stop – Whatipu Beach!

After spending a few nights in the heart of Auckland, we were eager to begin exploring the island. We loaded up the van and headed to the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park. Very quickly, the busy roads inside the city became windy one lane backroads, taking us closer to the coast. 

We decided to spend our first night at the Whatipu Campground. It was a gorgeous campground set up high overlooking the coast line. There was a small kitchen area with running water for washing dishes, and toilets with cold showers, all for the low cost of $12.50 a person. Upon arrival, we were very quickly introduced to the famous kiwi hospitality. A couple were packing up their van to head out, and left us with some leftover food, and the rest of their fresh water. They also provided us with some recommendations on where we should head next. 

We arrived at the campsite around 2:00pm, and once we got the van situated, we headed to the Caves track. This was a short 3.1km out and back trail (2 miles total) and took us to several small caves, and one very large cave. This cave, called the Te Anu Ru Cave, used to contain a wooden dance floor, which was built by people around 1899. It was a very popular party spot in the 1930’s. The road that we used to access the campground and the caves did not exist then, so these party-goers used to sail to this part of the island, dock their boats, and hike to the caves. There were lots of old cabins on the campground, and one of our fellow campers told us that after they were done partying, they would often crash in those cabins for the night. The next morning, they would trek back to their sailboats and head home. The dance floor is no longer there, but I imagine it was a hell of a time back in the day.

A short walk in the other direction takes you onto Whatipu beach. The beach was absolutely beautiful. It was a black sand beach, and the sand was incredibly fine. The beach has a little lighthouse set high up on a small cliff (shown in photo below). We spent the evening walking on the beach. We came across two bluebottle jellyfish, which, after a very careful rescue mission, I returned back to the ocean. The beach was a beautiful place to watch the sun set before we headed back up to our campsite to cook dinner and get settled in for the night.

As we were washing our dishes in the nearby kitchen shack, we met another friendly Kiwi. He told us that while we were here, we should hike the Gibbons Loop Track to the tunnel campsite and circle back via the beach. In total, this is about a 15km round trip. He gave us lots of other recommendations for when we continue our journey, and we hope to be able to check out every single one.

The next morning, we woke up, and did a small hike up to an overlook, which is where we made our breakfast and had our morning coffee. It was a great way to start our morning before we began our recommended hike for the day.

The hike took about 5 hours to complete, including a couple of scenic stops and a longer stop on the beach for lunch. It by no means was easy, but it was absolutely stunning and well worth it. This track took us up into the nearby mountain range, across the ridge, overlooking a stunning valley, and back down onto the beach via an intricate boardwalk over the swamps. The track was gnarly, and we were both incredibly impressed with how well maintained everything was.

The walk back along the beach was beautiful, but it took a lot longer than we had originally anticipated! The sand was soft and we sunk in a little more with each step, but eventually, we made it back to the lighthouse and consequently back to our campsite. There were cold showers available at the campsite as well, so we made sure to shower and wash all of our dishes before climbing back in the van and heading to our next stop –> the Coromandel Peninsula!