Pukerua Scenic Tua

Easy road start heading along Teihana Road W and then Rawhiti Road towards the sea. Follow the steps down at the end of the road and then veer left (a south) along the coast, first road and then singletrack past the pau/post. The track varies from easy singletrack to rough but mostly stays just above the rocky beach amongst the scrub. The rock arch is on the track and worth a pic.

The track runs out at Wairaka Point where you follow the rocky beaches past the rock pyramids, scrambling past a small cave - this can be tricky at high tide, and very easy at low tide. From here you need to look for the small stream hidden in the scrub about 100 m on from the cave. There used to be an easy track along the stream to the mossy waterfall but it is often washed out at the base and/or covered by small land slips.

Once you get to the waterfall the track/route continues up the steep ridge and rejoins the stream just before some windswept Dr Seuss looking tress. Here, the route finding starts - you head north keeping above the steep terrain and gradually sidling up the hills using sheep tracks where possible. After a few hundred metres you can see where you’ve come from and the way back along the hills is easy to see.

There is a rough farm track for a short section approaching the highest point before dropping down to the fence line along the top of the cliffs. At the final fence crossing into native bush (Raroa Reserve) look for the track leading down to the right which is easy to run and leads down to Raroa place (with a quick photo stop detour to the lookout early on).

Turn left along Raroa place then first right down a side street to Rawhiti Road, right again to follow it back to the shops.