Mt Manaia Track

THE BEST VIEW IN WHANGAREI

02 SEPTEMBER 2022

The view from the carpark

Views For Days

Mt Manaia stands proudly at 420 meters high, in the Whangarei Heads and once you reach the summit of Mt Manaia, you will be deeply rewarded with incredible views of soooo many places such as the Whangarei Harbour, Bream Head, the Hen and Chicken Islands (Taranga and the Marotere Islands), the Marsden Point Oil Refinery (can we still even call it that now?), the Poor Knights Island and the Hauraki Gulf.

We really wanted to do the hike on a sunny day so we could see the blue and green ocean and we were so happy the sun stayed out! There's nothing worse than hiking for ages only to find the clouds have come over and the beautiful water looks grey.

We absolutely loved hiking up Mt Manaia and we would highly recommend anyone who is able to do it, to climb it asap! You will need to be reasonably able to hike up as it has 1000 stairs (phew!), plus the rest of the track and is around 2 hours return. We did it in about 3 hours as we stopped quite frequently to check out interesting things. It's not hard or challenging, it's just a long way up and a thigh killer. Arabella (8) and Sienna (4) managed to get up and back down so it can easily be done by most! They had moments where they found it tough, but we just stopped to explore and have a break. Honestly, we all needed breaks at certain points, so just make sure you take your time and enjoy all the beautiful things on the way up.

The framed entrance to the hike

The beautiful peak statues at the entrance to the track

Mountain in Te Reo Maori is 'maunga'

A big tree over hanging the walk, creating an archway

Your Thighs Will Never Forgive You

As we talked about, the track has 1000 stair and others say it's closer to 1100. We didn't actually count them ourselves, but it definitely felt about that! (Not as many stairs as the Tongariro Crossing.) Climbing all those stairs can get pretty hot, so it's great that the track is sheltered most of the way to keep you cool.

We were really impressed with how maintained the track is by DoC (Department of Conservation). The stairs have been really well built and there were no deep holes or big stones to avoid. We came to one corner where there was a small waterfall (well, it was barely wet when we were there, but it would be a lot worse in winter) and the ground here was a big concrete slab which is great because it would be an absolute mud pit in winter.

It's important to stay on the track as Mt Manaia is tapu (sacred).

Walk through the beautiful New Zealand bush

Sienna is usually in front on our hikes - she is the energizer bunny!

The bush had really cool twisty branches everywhere

History of Mt Manaia

Manaia is one of the few scattered remains of a volcano that erupted 20 million years ago when the western edge of the Pacific tectonic plate plunged below the uplifting mass of the Northland peninsula.

It is the remnant of a stratovolcano that is believed to have stood at an eye watering 1000m tall which is over twice the size that Manaia is today!

The maunga (mountain) was formed by a series of eruptions that caused breccia and andesitic lava creating the ridges you see today and also by natural weather changes around the area.

These stairs were either carved out from stone or created from stone. Either way they are a great feature of the track

Near the top, the trees start to thin out and you know you're almost there

Up, up, up the stairs you go

Flora and Fauna

There was so much nature to discover on the hike like purple lichen, vivid green moss, creeper vines and weird fungus growing on tree trunks.

You'll see a lot of New Zealand native trees on the track such as kauri, pohutukawa, rata and nikau palms.

Even the tree roots were snaking along the forest and looked really cool! There were twisted branches and trunks going in all sorts of directions and some looked like a pile of spaghetti.

Purple lichen growing on a boulder

A beautiful woven nikau palm

Fungus growing on a tree

Take Time To Enjoy The Hike

As the good old saying goes, take time to stop and smell the roses! Well, that's exactly what we did on this walk (although it kind of felt like we were forced to stop after climbing a couple of flights of stairs and needing to take a breather!) We'd find ourselves saying, "Look up ahead, there's a small clearing, lets rest up there" and that's where we found the amazing views as we were making our way up.

Just the views looking out part way up the track were worth the walk alone. We kept saying, "If this is what the view is like from here, imagine what it is going to be like from the top!".

It did feel like we were climbing forever and at certain points along the way, you'd see a small clearing above through the trees and past that clearing was the peak of Mt Manaia. There were a number of times you could peek through the trees and see the top and each time it felt like we weren't getting any closer.

The walk has lots of teasers of the view along the way

Vivid green moss growing on a punga tree

Just a few of the many, many, maaaany stairs up and down Manaia

Helloooo Views!

There is so much to see from the lookout. You get a great view of Marsden Bay Beach (where we saw hundreds of stingrays) and you can see the old oil refinery and we could faintly see the Blacksmith's Creek Walkway we explored.

We could also see how One Tree Point got its name! It's definitely a point but there are lots of trees there so hmmm. We house sat in One Tree Point for a few months while we were house sitting, it's such a beautiful and quiet town and loved exploring One Tree Point Beach where one day we found some weeeeird red alien things.

The lookout provides amazing views of Bread Head and the Hen and Chicken Islands and what we loved most is how you can see rocks and stingray in the water from that high up! The water is that clear - amazing!

The lookout offers incredible 360-degree views

The incredible view looking towards Marsden Point (left across the harbour) and One Tree Point (right across the harbour)

Marsden Oil Refinery (well, now it's a log distribution centre)

The Summit

We had reached our final destination and we had no idea what to expect. As we approached the summit, we were greeted by a set of stairs leading up to a small platform at the top. When we got to the top, we stepped onto a very small space on the rocks and that is where we 100% knew that we had achieved what we set out to do that day. We had made it.... we had done it and we couldn't be more proud of the kids. I'm not so good with heights so I could feel my legs starting to feel a bit like lead. Lath is really good with heights, but for some reason, being up here felt like such a long way up and even his legs started to shake. Interestingly both the kids were absolutely fine, just another day for them! For us we don't want to instill the fear of heights into them, by showing them our discomfort, so we kept our nerves to a minimum while just educating the kids around safety while being up here.

Speaking of safety, because of the limited amount of space at the summit, there is a maximum of 5 people only at a time while you are here. We were the only ones there so it was perfect for us. There are no safetyrails up there either so we had a spot well clear of the cliff edge and that's where we stayed.... Keep kids really close by up there!

We set up our picnic (sandwiches from the bakery), enjoyed the peace and just sat and took in what can only be described as some of the most amazing views that we had seen in our life. We have been trying to get more photos of us all, so we spent ages trying to get our camera to stay in the branches of a nearby tree and got the remote hooked up and took some snaps.

What a treat it was to be up here with the incredible 360-degree views, enjoying the warm sun, light breeze and sandwiches - we couldn't have asked for a better day.

Say cheeeeeeeese!

Check out the colour of the water!

One of the peaks up Mt Manaia

Time To Say Goodbye

Leaving such an incredible spot like the summit of Mt Manaia is pretty difficult to do! The views are absolutely incredible and as long as you're the only ones up there, it's extremely peaceful and the perfect place to chill for a while.

We reluctantly said goodbye to the rock we had called home for half an hour and set off back down the track. We know that it's easier to go down stairs than up them so we knew it would be a breeze heading back down. HOW WRONG WERE WE? After climbing so many stairs, our calves and thighs had turned to jelly, so the way down was actually way harder than it was going up, because our legs wouldn't stop shaking! So that was fun. It took about 3 days for my calves to feel normal again - so worth it though!

Just keep going...

You will be dwarfed by the trees on this track

Bella having a rest

The bush is lush and green

Maori Legend

There are a few Maori legends about how Manaia remains in his final resting place. One version is the same as was told in the Maungaraho and Tokatoka blog.

Manaia had 4 brothers - Tokatoka, Maungaraho, Taungatara and Motowhitiki. They didn't want to live their lives in Hawaiki so one night they followed Kupe the great explorer and came to New Zealand, Aotearoa. As the sun was rising, Atua took away their powers to move, leaving them stranded where they now rest.

This tree had so much character

We were amazed by this huge tree root, snaking its way along the path

Someone had fun carving this out... probably did it while they were procrastinating climbing 1000 stairs

Whangarei Heads Viewing Platform

This part of the track is only about 5 minutes from the start of the track and offers really stunning views of Bread Head. If you're short on time, it's worth stopping here to get some pics and to learn more about the area as there are information boards positioned around the platform.

The information boards talk about Manaia's violent beginning, settlers to Whangarei Heads and the early life.

The platform about 5 minutes into the walk

It offers a stunning view across Bream Head

Whangarei Heads plaque

Mt Manaia

Mt Manaia is a very dominant landmark that can be seen from all sorts of areas in Northland. We stayed in One Tree Point for a few months and we could see Manaia from almost every area we travelled to including from Ruakaka Beach and especially Marsden Bay Beach and the Blacksmith's Creek Walkway.

The jagged structure and interesting peaks make a really stunning coastline.

Mt Manaia

Can you see a face?

The cliff face of Mt Manaia

Know Before You Go

No dogs allowed
There are toilets in the carpark
There are quite a few carparks available, but it could fill up during peak times
The track is a 4km one way in, one way out kinda deal
Allow 2 - 3 hours to hike and enjoy the views
Be prepared for 1000 stairs!
A maximum of 5 people can be on the boulders at the top
Keep kids close at the top as there are no rails
The track is mainly covered by bush
The track is one way in and back out again

Mappy McMap Face

Getting There

2129 Whangarei Heads Rd, Whangārei Heads 0174, New Zealand

Parking is available below the Mount Manaia Club.

Conclusion

There is another walk that's less popular called Mt Aubrey that isn't far from Mt Manaia. We didn't manage to do this track and have heard the track isn't as well maintained as Manaia, but the views are meant to be just as spectacular.

Climbing this maunga was one of our top 3 things to do in Whangarei alongside the Smuggler's Bay Loop Track and walking to the Whangarei Falls.

Gallery of Mt Manaia

Check out the rest of the awesomeness that didn't make it to the main blog but deserves to be shown (seriously, there were too many to choose from on this track!)