About | Pancake Rocks, Waipu
The Pancake Rocks is a fantastic short walk. It’s great for kids, nice and easy and great for exploring. There are beautiful coastal views the whole way. End up at the Pancake Rocks, amazing limestone rocks and though it may not be as impressive as South Island’s Punakaiki Rocks, the kids will still love walking them. See if you can spot any crabs!
There are two ways to walk to the Pancake Rocks, from Waipu Beach or Langs Beach. The shorter track would be from Waipu, though both are short and easy walks.
You have to cross a river to get to the start of the track at Waipu, the water was quite high (waist deep) when we started but when we came back it had gone down a lot and was easy to walk across (below knee deep).
There is a little, rocky beach you can walk down to at the beginning of the track or continue on to the pancake rocks. Right before the rocks you’ll come across a gate that says private property and enter at own risk. You’ll want to be careful if you choose to walk across the pancake rocks – especially with overconfident kids.
To get down to the rocks there’s a steep climb down but this just made it more fun for our kids who love anything to do with rocks and climbing.
Our kids were in absolute awe at the pancake rocks and immediately started spotting all of the caves and crevices (which they were planning on living in). We spent a good hour here exploring – the boys didn’t want to leave.
Time: 10 minutes one way (from Waipu Beach)
Spend: 30 minutes – 1 hour there
Tips
- Bring water and a camera
- Be careful climbing down to the rocks – it’s steep!
- Bring shoes for walking along the rocks (but don’t worry too much if you’ve forgotten them either – we all went barefoot and the kids didn’t complain).
Nearby
Location
Pancake Rocks is located in Northland, New Zealand, close to Whangarei.
Location: Waipu Coastal Trail, Langs Beach (park at the southern part of Waipu beach where there is a small stream. You’ll need to walk across to get to the start of the track, during high tide water level can get waist deep. Carry on down the track, keeping to your right).
Our experience
