Omanawanui Return

A popular Huia to Whatipū return run, often recommended as one of the best runs in Auckland to get lots of elevation in. Long enough that you do more running than driving coming from most anywhere in Auckland.

Start at the Karamatura car park and head through the cleaning station to Karamatura Track/Loop Walk. About 500m in you come to a fork, go left for the high route of the Loop Walk. About 2km in turn left onto Karamatura Track, towards the Forks and Don MacLean. Plenty of stairs will follow.

At 3.5km you join the Don MacLean Track and when you see the cleaning station ahead (5km) go straight through it, across the car park and up the Don Maclean (Te Rau-o-te-Huia) summit. (If you fancy a shorter run you could drive to here and just do the following part.) After taking in the view and taking photos head back across the car park and turn left after the cleaning station onto the Puriri Ridge Track.

This will eventually lead you onto the stunning and undulating Ōmanawanui Track. More stairs and a wee rock scramble will lead you up to the high points and the trig. As you head down the final hills towards Whatipū, turn left onto the Signal House Track (about 10.5k in) for an out and back with extra views of Whatipū Beach and the Māngere Harbour entrance. As you come back head left all the way down to the Whatipū car park before turning back up the way you came. There is a toilet at the far end of the car park if you need it. You will have about 12km on your watch as you turn around.

Retrace your steps; if you skip the Signal house Track and Don Maclean Summit on the way back you will be at around 20km when you hit the Karamatura Loop Walk fork again. Check out the falls if you like and go left at the fork for the lower route of the Loop Walk this time. You have less than a couple of kms to go.