Waiheke Bush & Beach

This track mainly follows the Te Ara Hura trail which is a 100km loop around Waiheke taking in all of Waiheke's great bush and beach trails. However, from the start in Onetangi you are going to take the Coast to Coast trail from the southern end of Onetangi, before joining the Te Ara Hura trail from Rocky Bay onwards.

At the southern end of Onetangi Beach run up First Ave and ascend the steps onto a grassy ridge above the beach. Follow the track across the grassy area and across Waiheke Rd and into the start of the bush trail in Onetangi Forest & Bird Reserve (see note in next para). You want to take the Coast to Coast trail, or follow the sign posts that say Trig Hill Rd. Take this to the top, and you will find yourself at Trig Hill Rd, turn left onto this road, and follow it past Eco Zipline Tours and down a gradual gravel road for about 400m to the start of the Peacock Winery.

NB the Onetangi Forest & Bird Reserve is closed due to Kauri die back. An alternative way to get to the top of Trig hill road is to take the 3rd Avenue to Onetangi hall, cross Waiheke road, run half way up Victoria rd North, turn right into Victoria reserve (a lovely patch of bush), emerge on Marine view road, turn left, run up Victoria South rd until you reach walkway (steps) on the right which will take you to Trig Hill road.

From here you can start following the well signposted Te Ara Hura markers (red squares) on a post. At the end of the 400m gravel road traverse 100m along the side of a grassy bank and head into an amazing pocket of native bush. Follow this for 3-4km all the way down to Rocky Bay, keep following the red signs for Te Ara Hura walkway. You can follow this signage for the next 18km until you hit Church Bay Rd for the first time after climbing out of Huruhi Bay.

When you hit Church Bay Rd, turn left immediately (follow signs) and traverse up behind Mud Brick Winery before entering another great pocket of bush. The second time you hit Church Bay Rd (26km in) you turn right and follow this road back to Oneroa past the wineries such as Mud Brick and Cable Bay. Alternatively you can keep following the Te Ara Hura signs for a further 30km back to Onetangi. Note, due to rainfall in April 2017 parts of the Te Ara Hura have detours, check the map on the Auckland Council Website for updates. The below link has detours as at April 2017 http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/parksfacilities/walkingtracks/Documents/stormmapa3110417.pdf