Bell Rock Loop Track

About | Bell Rock Loop Track

The Bell Rock Loop Track is a 3-hour hike that takes you through a beautiful forest and onto limestone rock with stunning views of the mountains. It’s an absolute stunner and well worth it.

To get out to the start of the Bell Rock Loop Track is about an hours drive out of Napier. After heading out towards Tutira and driving along the dusty gravel road for what seems like forever, you’ll finally see the DOC sign for Boundary Stream, keep driving a little longer until you see the DOC sign for Bell Rock. Find a place to park your car on the side of the road and enjoy sweeping views across Mohaka Valley right there from the road, then head into a beech and podocarp forest. The walk through the bush is pleasant. The temperature is rather cooler as you go deeper into the forest and you’ll find it home to many birds like the tui, bellbird and kereru (New Zealand pigeon), who you’ll undoubtedly hear throughout your walk. There are two weta hotels for you and the kids to take a peep in – if you dare. It’s quite fun seeing what’s inside and you’ll usually find a weta in residence.

Emerging from the bush you’ll come across farmland. Horray. You’re nearly there. Jump over the fence and just a little way along you’ll be greeted by the most spectacular view. You’ll almost be inclined to just end your walk there – that view alone was worth it and you think, how can it get better than this?! Well, it does. So enjoy it and then move those feet along, you’ve still got two hills to scramble up.

The hills are brutal, but do whatever you got to do – take a break, bring out a snack or crawl up it to get those kids, or yourself, to keep moving onward. Because when you reach the top of the second hill, you’ll start to get a glimpse of what you’ve been waiting for this whole time.

It’ll be hard to stop yourself from running down the hill with a gleeful grin on that face. You made it, now enjoy it.

Explore the rocky out cliffs with caution, especially with the kids. It gets windy up here, so take note of that as well. Other than that, go get exploring. Walk to the top, go to the edge, go around, take some photos and just take it all in. It’s a really cool place.

Looking at the rock formations you can see how Bell Rock got its name, being shaped like a huge bell. Look for fossils and seashells in the limestone – this was once part of the seafloor but now stands hundreds of metres above it. Standing on top of the huge rock will have you feeling like you’re standing on Pride Rock from the Lion King. The views are expansive and you will be able to see the Mahia Peninsula and Cape Kidnappers at one end and majestic mountain ranges in the other.

It’s hard to pull yourself away from, so bring a little snack or even better, a picnic lunch (fingers crossed it’s not so windy), slow it down and enjoy life. Because up here, it sure is good.

Coming back, you can go the way you came or go along the 4WD track to enjoy panoramic views of the Mohaka Valley, Te Kooti’s Lookout and further out is the Whirinaki Te Puaa-Tāne Conservation Park. This track takes you to Pohokura Road and about 1km from your car. Turn right at the road to head back to the start of the track.

Reaching Bell Rock takes work and determination – it’s an hour drive from Napier and a further 1.5-hour walk in. But it’s worth all of that and so much more.

Time & distance: 3 hours, 5.3km return walk.

Kid-friendly: the walk is great for kids that are fine with walking the distance, but you’ll need to keep an eye on them around the lookout as there are significant drops. They’ll enjoy the weta hotels along the way.

Tip: come on a clear and sunny day to be able to see further. A less windy day would be awesome, too!

Nearby

Boundary Stream Mainland Island Reserve

Shine Falls

White Pine Bush

Tangoio Falls

Waipatiki Beach

Location

If you need anything before you go out on your walk – water or snacks, pull into the Tutira store before heading in. You’ll need to navigate long gravel roads to get to the Bell Rock Track. When the road forks along Matahoura Road, go left, down Pohokura Road. Keep going for 12km until you reach the destination (it will feel like forever but take it slow on those gravel roads and you’ll get there). Put ‘Bell Rock Loop Track Parking’ into Google Maps.

Photos

The Bell Rock Loop Track was one of those places that I was really excited to visit when planning for our trip to Hawke’s Bay. The photos looked amazing and I just knew we had to get there. The thing is though, Bell Rock is quite unknown, even to the locals. It’s out of the way, a mission to get to, and hasn’t had much fame. But here’s the thing, it was quite easily one of the best places we’ve been to in Hawke’s Bay and I couldn’t recommend it enough.

Getting there, it really quite the mission. We’d already headed out to the area previously though, doing the Shine Falls and Lake Opouahi walks beforehand so kind of knew what to expect. In true kiwi fashion, we loved stopping in at the dairy, grabbing some mince and cheese pies and hot chips before we went on our way. I know. Awful. How can you do that before a walk, but we honestly loved it and it was one of the things I used to lure the kids out there. They couldn’t get enough of it, and for the most part, we’d always stop in either on the way there or on the way back. On the way back, we’d grab our chips and pies, drive a little further up the road and stop off at the lake (Lake Tutira), hop out and enjoy the views while we ate. It’s a pretty nice spot to stop, take a break from the road and munch on something. Also, if the dairy didn’t have the pies we wanted the lady there was always happy to warm us up some. I don’t know if she got sick of us in the end though..

So we happily drove off with pies and chips and navigated the windy and gravel road. I’d been out this way before, but I’d never gone that far in. I saw that the Bell Rock Loop Track was 12km in from the intersection, and thought, oh cool, 12km, that’s not too far. But on these dirty gravel roads, everything takes so much longer. And the road starts to feel like a never-ending twist of loose gravel and bends. Ashton sometimes gets carsick on roads like these and I was starting to feel anxious, were we ever going to get there?

But alas, the Boundary Stream sign finally popped up ad it gave me a little sense of hope that we were at least going in the right direction, and only a few more corners later we found our destination. A few cars were already parked on the side the road but we managed to find a park and very eagerly got out of the car to stretch our legs. The air was a lot colder up here so we got out jumpers out and grabbed our bags, then our shoes. But wait, where was Ashton’s shoes? Nowhere to be found, we realised we hadn’t brought them and the only thing he had was his jandals. Crap dammit. After driving so far, we decided to go ahead anyways. It would have to do. It ended up being ok, with only a few complaints at the end of sore feet.

After all of that, we finally had time to look around us and there on the other side of the fence was the most amazing view (pictured below). A very nice start to the Bell Rock Loop Track.

Entering the forest, it seemed very dark but also very alive. We had come later on in the afternoon but the trees blocked a lot of the sunlight so it seemed a lot darker and was also a lot colder. We hurried on, and warmed those legs up. The thing I remember most about walking through the forest was that it was so very much alive with birdsong and I delighted in that. The forest was also very beautiful, and I found myself stopping and taking lots of photos of just the trees and candid photos of the boys.

We passed two weta hotels on the way through and stopped and looked inside each one. We found a few small wetas, spiders and other small insects that had found refuge in it. When we returned the same way, these weta hotels served as markers as to how much longer we would have to go to get back to the car. Though we would have liked to do the loop, it was a little bit longer and with the sun dropping lower in the sky, we were then eager to get back.

We left the forest, jumped over the fence and made our way across a grassy patch that led us to the most amazing view. Mountains, as far as the eye could see. It was breathtaking. It reminded me of a Pride and Prejudice (2005) scene where Keira Knightley is standing on top of a rock, looking out into the distance, her dress fiercely flowing in the wind and dramatic music playing.

The view was pretty epic and it just kept going. Walking further on I couldn’t help myself from looking back and taking it all in. It was a view that easily held your attention and it was hard to let go. However, coming in the afternoon, I knew that we were on a time limit, and unless we wanted to walk in the dark, we had to keep going.