About | Waihi Beach to Orokawa Bay Walk
Orokawa Bay is just a 45 min walk away from Waihi Beach and is a small but stunning part of the eastern coastline. Bring a picnic and laze beneath the sun as you hear the sets of waves come rolling in.
Walk to the northern end of the beach where you’ll find where the track starts. Note that if it’s high tide, you may not be able to reach the start of the track. The track will wind its way through the forest, coming out to enjoy those ocean views every once in a while. The track is a little hilly but not hard – bring your walking shoes out for this one.
When you reach Orokawa Bay, you’ll be rewarded with the most spectacular white sand beach with beautiful clear blue waves rolling in. Because of the steep grade of the seafloor and the potential of rips – this beach is not safe for swimming. Instead, bring a picnic and enjoy it under the shade of the huge pohutukawa trees or lay out your blanket and bask in the sun. The kids will love playing with the waves and making sandcastles. Walk up the beach and find some rocks to walk along and explore. This is also a great fishing spot.
Time: 45min each way
Make the walk longer
If you’re keen to get some good exercise in and go for a longer walk, there are a few options for you. From Orokawa Bay, the track keeps going, one to another beach and the other to a waterfall. You can actually walk all along the coast, passing two bays, and get picked up from Ngatitangata Road, or the other way around. This one way walk takes a total of 4 hours.
Track walking times:
- Orokawa Bay to William Wright Falls – 40 min one way. Head inland, jump across rocks most of the way as you follow the stream to get to the 30 metre high William Wright Falls. Don’t do this walk after heavy rain.
- Orokawa Bay to Homunga Bay – 2 hours one day. The track winds its way north until it arrives at Homunga Bay, a popular fishing spot.
- Homunga Bay to Ngatitangata Road – 45 min one way. Follow the pole marked route across farmland and up to the road. This is quite steep so if you’re walking Ngatitangata Road – Waihi one way, it’s easier to start from Ngatitangata Road and finish at Waihi Beach.
Note:
During high tide, the track may be inaccessible. Plan ahead and check the tides before you go.
There are cliffs and high drop-offs next to the track. Make sure you and the kids stick to the track.
There are no facilities at Orokawa Bay or along the walk.
Swimming is not advised at Orokawa Bay. Picnics definitely are, though!
Nearby
Victoria Battery Tramway & Museum
Location
Park at the northern end of Waihi Beach, on The Esplanade, for the closest parking to this walking track.
Photos
The walk to Orokawa Bay was nice and easy, with lots of views of the ocean. We enjoyed these moments where we could soak in the amazing Pacific Ocean views.
Spotting where we were headed, we were excited to get down there and explore. It looked amazing!
We arrived at the most beautiful white sand beach. The waves coming in would curl themselves up and crash onto the sand. It was quite soothing just watching and hearing them come in. Pohutukawa’s lined the beach and made the most fascinating backdrop. The boys love tree climbing!
It was really nice walking through these ancient pohutukawa trees.
The waves were beautiful the day we came.
When we reached the other end of the beach we found the track that goes off to Willaim Wright Falls and Homunga Bay.
We started off down the track the would take us to William Wright Falls. The track soon came to a small creek and followed it the whole way. The track isn’t actually much of a track, and though there are a few orange markers along the way, it’s easy to get confused in which way to go. My advice is to stick to the stream and you can’t go wrong.
We were crossing rocks most of the way – it was either that or try to make your way through thick cutty grass. Rock hopping was fun at first but after ten minutes of it, the kids started to get bored. We also had a few light showers come our way and didn’t know if the weather was going to get worse or not. When it started to rain pretty hard, we decided to give it up and head back, we hadn’t brought any rain jackets with us. After going through long and thick cutty grass, getting their shoes wet and getting rained on, they were pretty over it.
We knew there were a few stream crossings on this track but we didn’t realise that the track wasn’t even really a track and that we’d be rock hopping most of the way. It definitely made it harder and knowing this beforehand would have put us in the right mindset. I still think that if we’re ever in the area again that we’ll give it another go. So, until next time.
