And the dog came too... dog walks in New Zealand
  • Home
  • Introduction
  • Notes for Users
  • Alarums and Excursions!!
  • South Island
    • North-West >
      • Atua Stream Walk
      • Barnicoat
      • Ben Nevis
      • Botanical Hill
      • Boulder Bank
      • Brooklyn
      • Collingwood Beach
      • Collingwood Cemetery
      • Cotterell Road
      • Dellside
      • Dicker Road
      • Dominion Flats
      • Eves Valley Road
      • Faulkner Bush
      • Grampians
      • Great Taste Trail - Richmond
      • Great Taste Trail - Kohatu
      • Great Taste Trail - Wakefield
      • Hacket Valley
      • Hoddy Estuary Reserve
      • Hoddy Road
      • Kawatiri Rail Tunnel walk
      • Kina Beach
      • Maitai Valley
      • Mapua Headland
      • Marahau Beach
      • Marahau Forest
      • Mead Stream
      • Milnthorpe Forest
      • Motueka Inlet
      • Motueka Spit
      • Pakawau Beach
      • Paton's Rock
      • Paynes Ford Tramline Track
      • Pearse Valley
      • Pohara Beach
      • Rameka Creek
      • Red Hills
      • Ridgeview Road Walkway
      • Robson Reserve
      • Rough Island
      • Sharlands
      • Split Apple Rock
      • Stagecoach Road
      • St Arnaud Loop Walk
      • Tahunanui Beach
      • Tantragee
      • Tasman View Road
      • Teetotal
      • Two Rivers
      • Waimea Fish-Out Ponds
      • Waimea River Trail
      • Wairoa River Left Branch
      • Waiwhero Forest
      • Waiwhero Ridge
    • North-East >
      • Archer's Track
      • Blairich Reserve
      • Cullen Creek
      • Cullen Point
      • Davies Bay Track
      • Esson's Valley Tracks
      • Goulter River
      • Grovetown Lagoon
      • Half Moon Track
      • Kotuku Trail
      • Lake Chalice
      • Link Trail East
      • Link Trail West
      • Lower Wairau
      • Mount Baldy and Mount Royal
      • Mount Barrett Walkway
      • Mount Fell
      • Mount Fishtail
      • Mount Richmond
      • Mount Riley
      • Mount Robertson
      • Mount Stokes
      • Mount Takorika
      • Ngakuta Bay
      • Nydia Track
      • Opouri Bridle Track
      • Patutu Walk
      • Pelorus Track
      • Piwakawa Track
      • Rarangi
      • Sawcut Gorge
      • Snout Tracks
      • Taylor's Valley
      • Tirohanga
      • Wairau River
      • Wakamarina Track
    • West >
      • Alborns Track
      • Big Rimu Tree walk
      • Charming Creek
      • Chasm Creek
      • Coalbrookdale
      • Denniston Historic Walkway
      • Denniston Plateau
      • Gentle Annie Point walk
      • Goldsborough Tracks
      • Haast-Paringa Cattle Track
      • Kawatiri Beach Trail
      • Kawatiri River Trail
      • Kumara Community walks
      • Lake Hanlon
      • Larry's Creek
      • Mikonui River
      • Millerton Bathhouse Track
      • Moeraki Valley Track
      • Mokihinui Stopbank
      • Mount Adams
      • Mount Glasgow
      • Mount Haast Route
      • Murchison Tree Walks
      • Murray Creek
      • Old Ghost Road
      • Porika Road
      • Powerhouse and Lookout Walks
      • Progress Water Race
      • Ross Goldfield Walks
      • Skyline Walk
      • Stafford Bay Loop
      • Wanganui River
      • Whataroa Walks
      • Whitcombe Loop Tracks
      • Whitcombe Valley Track
      • Zig-Zag Track
    • Central-North >
      • Balmoral Lookout
      • Bottle Lake
      • Cheviot Hills Reserve
      • Childrens Bay Farm
      • Craigieburn Forest
      • Culverden Domain
      • Diamond Harbour
      • Ellangowan Scenic Reserve
      • Garden of Tane
      • Godley Head
      • Governors Bay
      • Halswell Quarry
      • Hanmer Forest Walks
      • H W Hart Arboretum
      • Ka Whata Tu o Rakihouia
      • Kaikoura Trail
      • Kowai Bush Reserve
      • Kowai River
      • Lyttleton Coastal Walk
      • Lytteleton Hills
      • McCleans Forest
      • McHughs Forest Park
      • Mears Bush
      • Mount Grey
      • Mount Oxford
      • Mount Richardson
      • Mount Thomas
      • Newton Falls
      • Ngaio Point
      • Panama Rock
      • Pegasus Bay
      • Rakahuri River
      • Sign of the Bellbird
      • Sign of the Kiwi
      • St James Conservation Park
      • Tutakakahikura Scenic Reserve​
      • Victoria Park
      • West Melton Forest
      • Woodills North
      • Woodills South
    • Central-South >
      • Ahuriri East Branch
      • Ahuriri Valley Tracks
      • Ashburton River
      • Benmore Peninsula
      • Centennial Park
      • Cowan's Hill
      • Dingle Burn
      • Double Hill
      • Freehold Creek
      • Greta and Dorcy Tracks
      • Gunns Bush
      • Hook Bush
      • Huxley and Hopkins Valleys
      • Kelceys Bush
      • Knottingly Park
      • Lake Emma walk
      • Lake Emily Tracks
      • Lake Hood
      • Lake Ohau Track
      • Lake Opuha Walk
      • Lake Tekapo Lakeside Walk
      • Lake Tekapo Regional Park
      • Lake Wainono
      • Lower Opihi River Track
      • Macaulay River walk
      • Methven walkway
      • Mount Barrosa
      • Mount Sunday & Mount Potts
      • Opihi River Walkway
      • Orari River Mountain Bike Tracks
      • Pareora River
      • Pioneer Park
      • Potts River Walks
      • Quailburn Track
      • Saltwater Creek
      • Snowy Gorge
      • Talbot Forest
      • Temple Valley Tracks
      • Waihao River
      • Waihi River Walk
      • Waimate Creek walks
      • Waitohi Bush
    • South-East >
      • Alexandra Anniversary Walk
      • Arawata Bridle Track
      • Arrow Gorge Loop
      • Arrowtown Millennium Track
      • Bannockburn Sluicings
      • Bob's Cove and Twelve Mile Delta
      • Boundary Creek
      • Bull Creek
      • Bullendale Track
      • Butcher's Dam
      • Central Otago Rail Trail
      • Chrystals Beach
      • Clutha Riverside Track
      • Commissioner's Track
      • Conroy's Dam
      • Cromwell-Pisa Walkway
      • Crystal Battery
      • Deans Bank Track
      • Diamond Creek Track
      • Dunedin Walks
      • Earnscleugh Tailings
      • Flagstaff Hill
      • Frankton Arm Walkway
      • Gabriel's Gully
      • Gibbston River Trail
      • Gladstone Track
      • Glendhu Bay Track
      • Glenorchy Boardwalk
      • Grovers Hill
      • Hawea River Track
      • Huriawa Pa Walk
      • Kanuka Loop
      • Lake Alta Track
      • Lake Hayes Trail
      • Lakeside Walk
      • Leith Saddle
      • Long Beach
      • Mapoutahi
      • Mosgiel Floodbank
      • Mount Cargill
      • Mount Crichton Loop
      • Mount Iron Track
      • Munro's Gully
      • Naseby Forest
      • Nevis Valley Tracks
      • Newcastle Track
      • One MIle Creek
      • Oteake Conservation Park
      • Outram Glen
      • Quartz Reef
      • St Bathans
      • Trotters Gorge
    • South-West >
      • Blair Athol Walkway
      • Boyd Creek
      • Manapouri cycleway
      • McLean Falls
      • The Bluff
  • North Island
    • Auckland & Waiheke
    • Coromandel & North Waikato
    • Wellington
    • The North
    • Manawatu & Wairarapa
    • The East
    • Taranaki & Central
  • Useful Links
  • Progress Water Race
  • Rock and Pillar Conservation Park
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • New Page

Mangawhai Heads

A series of walks, giving the chance to run on the beach, take in the views and get fitting climbing the local hills

Download pdf

Mangawhai Heads

From the carpark at the end of Wintle Street, in Mangawhai Heads, there's a choice of at least four walks, all of which are dog-friendly. One involves no more than a couple of hundred metres slog up a hill to a lookout point: worth it for the view of the huge fossil sand dune that all but blocks the mouth of the lagoon on which Mangawhai is built.  A second involves a gentle stroll along the beach beside the lagoon.  

It's the other two options, however, that offer most scope and give most reward. The obvious choice is to take to the beach and head northwards.  That's the way to the Mangawhai Cliffs walk - a 5 km trail along the cliff-tops towards Bream Tail.  But that's on DoC and farm land so, sadly, is out of bounds for dogs.  Even ignoring that, it's a pleasant walk along the beach for anything up to 3 km (depending on the tide), and there's plenty to see.   As well as views across to the Hen and Chicken Islands and Little  Barrier Island, we get close-ups of intricately eroded chunks of sandstone and limestone, lying where they've fallen on the beach, and of a sweeping face to one of the sand dunes, down which kids (and parents) love to roll and slide.  There are also rock-pools to explore, and, after a couple of kilometre or so, a shingle beach which is a real cornucopia for any collector of curly sea shells.

The fourth option is the hard one, and offers a series of loop routes.  This is the Goldschmidt track, named after the co-ordinator of the Mangawhai walking weekend (a great, annual event that always includes at least one special walk for dogs).  I've never met Jean Goldschmidt, as far as I know - but I picture her with four cloven feet and two horns, for she certainly seems to have a goat-like predilection for clambering up steep hills!
  
The track starts on the north side of the main carpark, and heads up.  And up.  The first section offers the shortest loop, of about 1 km in length through bush and scrub, and taking in the summit of the first hill.  If we're brave, however, we'll exit this loop at its westernmost limit, and head down to the road that forms a driveway into one of the gated housing estates that seem to be proliferating in this part of the coast.  Cross this, and we head up a steep series of steps to the top of another ridge, where there's a welcome bench, and then down again into the next valley.  Here we have the choice of escaping, via a small side street, back onto Wintle Street and thence left to the carpark.  But if we're fit or foolhardy enough we can climb again through bush until we get to Cullen St.  Left down this, and left again onto another section of track, and eventually we rejoin Cullen Street.  Take a left and a right, cross the road at the bottom (Wintle Street), and soon we are on the beach, beside the lagoon.  From there it's a gentle 10 minutes back to the carpark.  


Summary

Location: Wintle Street, Mangawhai Heads: from round-about at junction of Molesworth Road and Mangawhai Heads Road, head east along Mangawhai Heads Road; becomes Wintle Streey; continue to end.   

Access: Carpark at end of Wintle Street  

Length: up to 4 km

Configuration: Network of tracks offering there--and-back walks and loops 

Grade: Variable, from gentle and flat beaches to steep informal tracks over hills.

Status: off-leash (under control) for the most part (on-leash on streets); summer restrictions apply on beaches.

Cafes and restaurants: Sail Rock cafe in Mangawhai Village (1 km)

More information: 
Picture
If you've found this website helpful, you might also want to look at some of my novels and poetry. These, like my dog-walking, are drawn from a love of nature and the countryside. To learn more, click here.