Where is it?:
Otaki Gorge, Tararua Forest Park. 1 hour 10min drive North of Wellington.
Get off the Motorway at Otaki and turn right on to Otaki Gorge Road,
Follow Otaki Gorge road right until the dead end. You can park here. This is the start of the walk.
The Tramp:
This walk is around 4.5 km. 45min adult time, 1.5 hours kids time.
It’s one of the easiest tramps to do in the lower North Island with babies and young children.
There are two routes on this walk, the best route is to just follow the old road, walking straight ahead. There has been a slip on the road but it is well formed and has steps and ropes. The track follows the old road so is wide and has gravel. People often bike it too.
DO NOT follow the doc signs up the hill near the start of this track. It is not a great route and very steep. Not appropriate for children.
There are still residents living along the road, they have a lovely wee drink station at the gate for you to fill your water bottle and they sell plants as well. They also have showers available and trolleys for transporting stuff to Parawai Lodge if need be, these two facilities cost money though.
There is a camping area and large bridge 5 minutes before the hut.
NB: They may be fixing the road which would mean the walk would be back to being about 10mins. This could be years away though.
The Hut:
18 bunks, 6 lower, the rest are upper bunks. 6 of them are above the kitchen bench area, these are extremely high. If you get there early you are nearly always guarenteed a bunk though.
Obviously keep busy weekends in mind, it can be busier on a Saturday.
I sometimes just keep a couple of sleeping mats in my car and if we ever get caught out I would just jog back to the car and get them. This would only take around an hour return.
Most other trampers are doing the Te Aroha Trail so arrive later at night.
There is also heaps of flat area around the lodge for tents. And also a camp fire area for toasting marshmellow. There’s usually wood in the wood shed. The fire is an open fire.
Good to know:
Not bookable, just grab a back country hut pass at Kathmandu Otaki before you go.
There’s a river nearby to explore if you need something to do.
The Arcus loop track is also a bit of a day walk you can do. But last time I did it, it was over grown so wear long sleeved clothing and prepare for abit of an adventure, it will take abit longer then sign posted. Probably best suited from 4/5 years plus because some of the spiky bushes would be at eye level for younger children.
Visited by: Vicky, Sarah, 4 year old and 2x 7 year olds.
Friends with a 18month old and 3 year old also joined us but didn’t do the Arcus loop, thank god.
Supplied 2024
Some photos credit to Maria 🙂
trampingforlittlepeople 