Explore a large valley furnished with rivers, waterfalls and native forest…
This beautiful area of Coromandel Forest includes 21 walking tracks ranging from 20 minute strolls to rewarding overnight trails. Administered by the Department of Conservation, Kauaeranga Valley is an ideal playground for hikers, mountain bikers and nature lovers
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After having explored the wonderful and historical town of Thames, we ventured inland towards the mountains & forest for some bush camping along the beautiful and pristine Kauaeranga River!
This journey is only about an hour return from Thames and follows Kauaeranga Valley Road where there is a total of 8 DOC (Department of Conservation) campsites spread out along the road. Each campsite is similar yet slightly different to one another. All campsites are nestled in the forest, many with views and easy access to the river.
HOT TIP: If, like us, you like camping in forest and off the beaten track, it may well be worth purchasing the DOC Campsite Pass. This gives you free access to most of their campsites across New Zealand! It paid for itself after just a few nights.
Our first stop inland was the DOC visitor centre which gave us some information on the tracks, road conditions and points of interest in the forest. After our stop here and down the road past a couple of the first campsites the phone signal does end, so come prepared to be cut off for a few days (this doesn’t generally bother us and its quite nice to disconnect).
Following this, we decided to drive to the furthest inland campsite, Trestle View Campground, so that we could be up early the next morning to complete the Pinnacles walk. Trestle view campsite is just a small grassed area adjacent to the car park for the pinnacles walk so it was fairly busy during the day.
THE PINNACLES WALK
The Pinnacles walk is one of New Zealand’s most popular overnight walks, although it can also be completed in a day walk, like we did. The initial hike to the Pinnacles hut is the easiest section (still fairly hard with many uphill sections though). Once we reached the hut, we had a lunch break and unfortunately the rain started getting heavier.
The second section from the hut definitely gets more challenging with rock ladders and grips where you have to use all four limbs to climb up to the lookout. This can be quite daunting, especially when wet and slippery…
To our disappointment the cloud and rain was too low and we saw nothing from the lookout! Nevertheless the walk was still worth it and all of the cloud made the landscape seem spooky and dangerous.
On the decent down, we found a swimming hole and took a cheeky dip, although it was extremely cold!
In total the walk took us around 7 hours to complete the walk and by the end of it our feet were really aching.
Before we settled in for the night, we decided to find another camp spot where we could get better access to the river and so we found Catleys Campground just up the road. Unfortunately this spot did not have river views but the river was only like a 30 second walk.
OUR FAVOURITE SPOT
In the morning, after some campers had left, we quickly packed up, jumped in the van and drove to Totara Flat Campground. We had scoped this camp spot out the day before and we think this is the best spot in the whole Kauaeranga Valley. With uninterrupted river views from the van, the sound of the river and the surrounding forest, we really couldn’t ask for anything more.
We spent a few days here, just relaxing, and pottering on odd jobs around the van!
HOT TIP: If you are in a big rig, please be aware that if your rig weighs over 6 ton, you cannot access any spots past the Whangaiterenga Campground. Much of the road into the valley is also unsealed and has many tight spots which could be dangerous with a larger rig.
COOKSON KAURI WALK
After being lazy for a few days we headed to another walk which started from the Wainora Campsite. This walk is along a well-graded metalled track, with steps and bridges across the Wainora Stream. The track then climbs up a series of steps (over 700) with some lovely views of Table Mountain before reaching the Cookson kauri.
The Kauri tree is absolutely massive, and must be hundreds of years old (maybe thousands)
The following morning, I had only just woken up when we had a knock on the door asking us to leave the Kauaeranga valley area as there was a lot of rain due, and we may have been stuck if we did not leave now. Of course we quickly packed up and left. A day later the valley was completely cut off due to slips on the road into the valley! Thank goodness we had left!
Next we headed towards Coromandel Town & had a blast zip lining!!
