The Aotea Track: One of the Best Walks in Auckland

The Aotea Track, Great Barrier Island, is one of the best walking tracks in Auckland

Looking for the best walks in Auckland? One of the best walking tracks in Auckland is the Aotea Track on Great Barrier Island. It’s the perfect multi-day walking track near Auckland with a great mix of challenging terrain, great scenery and rare wildlife. The track is a loop-shape around Hirakimatā/Mt. Hobson, the islands highest peak. You can build your own adventure by choosing one of the many side trails or feeder tracks to create your own loop route. The island is a safe, peaceful place so it’s an excellent New Zealand trekking adventure for anyone who likes hiking solo.

How Long is the Aotea Track?

The Aotea Track is best done as a 3-day, 2-night hiking trip. Depending on which exact route you take you could be walking up to 25km. Because the Aotea Track is a loop track with lots of side-trails and feeder tracks you can “build your own adventure” and add sections to make your walk longer.

Where Does It Start?

Most walkers begin at Windy Canyon on the eastern side and walk along Palmers Track to spend their first night at Mt. Heale Hut.

From Mt. Heale Hut you can either:

1. Shorten up the itinerary by heading down the Peach Tree Track to Kaitoke Hot Springs for a 2-day, 1-night adventure, ending with a glorious soak in a natural hot spring.
2. Hike over to Kaiaraara Hut for a second night on the Aotea Track, then exit the loop at Kaiaraara Bay. A side-trip over to Bushes Beach is well-worth doing and it only takes an hour.

TIP: Forest Road is pretty dull and unexciting. You won’t miss much if you avoid walking on this part of the loop track network.

Native Wildlife and Conservation Value

Aotea/Great Barrier Island is a unique, high-quality conservation area near Auckland. The island is clear of possums, mustelids (stoats, weasels, ferrets) and deer. The Aotea Track is deep in the heart of Great Barrier Island, surrounded by DOC-managed public conservation land. It’s distance from mainland New Zealand has helped slow down the decline of native species from habitat loss, predation and human impacts.

When you’re hiking the Aotea Track you’re likely to see (or hear) kākā and banded rail. If you’re extremely lucky, or you visit at the right time of year, you might hear the black petrel/takoketai that have chosen to nest near the summit of Hirakimatā/Mt. Hobson. Pay extra attention to rustling in the leaves, this might be a chevron skink, one of New Zealands most endangered lizards.

Aotea Track Grading & Difficulty

DOC grades this track as ‘Advanced.’ This means that the track is mostly unformed and may be rough and steep. Anyone with a moderate to high level of fitness can do this track. We host walkers in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s as part of our 4-day Great Barrier Island Escape guided walk and they manage this track beautifully.

There are a lot of stairs on the Aotea Track. These are well-formed, timber staircases with balustrades and handrails. Even so, it’s a heart-pumping climb up to the summit and some sections are steep. It’s a good idea to do some stair-training beforehand, particularly if it’s been awhile since your last multi-day hike in New Zealand.

Map of the Aotea Track, Great Barrier Island

In this map all track sections that are considered part of the Aotea Track are marked in red. There are more than 10 side-routes from the main loop track.

Accommodation on the Aotea Track, Great Barrier Island

There are no lodges along the Aotea Track, just DOC huts. There are 2 DOC huts on the track, Mt. Heale Hut and Kaiaraara Hut. Both huts require booking in advance via the DOC hut online booking system.

Mt. Heale Hut is the nicer of the two huts, it’s at a higher elevation and more remote. Kaiaraara Hut is down near sea-level. It’s basic, but dry and comfortable. Both huts have access to drinking water, but remember to boil it first.

Both Mt. Heale Hut and Kaiaraara Hut have gas cookers in their kitchens. You don’t need to bring your own gas canisters or stoves. If you fly to the island you won’t be able to take this kind of equipment on Barrier Air flights anyway.

Why Is The Aotea Track One of the Best Walks in Auckland?

The Best Features of the Aotea Track

Windy Canyon, Great Barrier Island

Windy Canyon is right at the far eastern end of the Aotea Track. We recommend you start your Aotea Track walk at this location. Windy Canyon is only a 15 minute walk in from the road end so it’s an easy, in-and-out short walk if you don’t want to do a long trek.

The tall, sheer walls of the rocky canyon are covered in a carpet of moss, lichens and ferns. A short staircase takes you up and out of the canyon on the other side. It can be somewhat of a wind-tunnel, hence the name, but the unique geography is spectacular.

Views of the Hauraki Gulf from Hirakimatā / Mt. Hobson

From the summit of Hirakimatā/Mt. Hobson, the views are unmatched. This is why the Aotea Track is one of the best walks in Auckland! Sure, you’ve climbed about 500 stairs to get there so you deserve to stop and take it in. There’s a flat timber platform at the summit where you can get a good view, and a good picture, on a clear day. The platform doesn’t have balustrades or handrails so be careful near the edges. If you’re lucky you’ll have a view out to Hauturu/Little Barrier Island, which is a predator-free nature reserve near Auckland.

Mt Heale Hut is the highest DOC hut on Hirakimatā/Mt. Hobson on Great Barrier Island. Once you’ve hit the summit, you’ve got around an hour to walk before you reach the hut. The hut isn’t accessible by road, you will need to walk into it. It’s a serviced DOC hut and is bookable in advance using the DOC hut booking website. From the hut deck, you’ll be facing west back towards Auckland City, so you’ll have excellent views out over the Hauraki Gulf towards Hauturu/Little Barrier Island. Sometimes there is a DOC hut warden in residence.

Kaitoke Hot Springs, Whangaparapara, Great Barrier Island

Kaitoke Hot Springs is a natural spring where hot water comes up out of the ground and trickles down through a series of graduating rock pools. This is an open-air, natural hot spring. You can access Kaitoke Hot Springs via a 45-minute walk from Whangaparapara Road. The trailhead is a short 8 minute drive from Claris Airport, with roadside parking for just a few cars. The track into the springs is wide, gravelled and pretty flat. It would be suitable for strollers or pushchairs, but probably not wheelchairs. There is no fee to access Kaitoke Hot Springs. Even if you don’t complete the Aotea Track, a visit to Great Barrier Island is still worthwhile for the Kaitoke Springs walking track alone as it is, in itself, one of the best walks in Auckland.

TIP: After periods of heavy rain sometimes the pools can be cooler. Use your best judgement and check the water temperature before you enter.

Kauri Dieback Disease

The kauri tree is a taonga or treasure species in New Zealand forests. Sadly there is a soil pathogen that is killing healthy kauri across the northern North Island of New Zealand called Phytophthora agathidicida or colloquially Kauri Dieback Disease. Once this pathogen has infected a kauri tree it is very difficult and time-consuming to cure. The best prevention is controlling human and animal movements around affected trees.

Kauri Dieback Disease is present on Aotea/Great Barrier Island. There is a small stand of kauri near Kaiaraara Hut that are badly affected by this disease, so please make sure you keep to the timber boardwalks in this area – keep off the soil and wash your boots with disinfectant afterwards. There are boot-washing stations at the entrances and exits of some walking and hiking tracks on Great Barrier Island. It’s very important that you use these boot-washing stations wherever you go on the island.

Add the Aotea Track to your list of must-do New Zealand walks and hikes!

While there are many walks and hikes within driving distance of Auckland, not many can give you the peace and tranquility of Great Barrier Island. It is a great place to go walking, hiking and tramping in general. We think the Aotea Track on Great Barrier Island is one of the best walks in Auckland. The Aotea Track is full of unique, spectacular geographic features; beautiful high-value conservation forest and rare native wildlife. It’s far enough away from Auckland City to give you a real break from the pace of modern life, but close enough to make it an excellent choice for a weekend hiking trip.

To experience the highlights of the Aotea Track, one of the best walks in Auckland, come along on our 4-day Great Barrier Island Escape New Zealand guided walking holiday. To see our full range of New Zealand guided walking tours, including the Tongariro Northern Circuit Great Walk guided hiking tour package, visit our website and book today.