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can highly recommend that you add it to your trip “hit-list”. Despite being less than 100 km from downtown Auckland, Great Barrier is a step back in
time: no electricity, no possums, unsealed roads,
\ you haven’t yet escaped to Great Barrier Island, I
_ impressive regenerating bush, and beautiful untouched beaches give the island a “get-away-from-it-all” feel. Over 60% of the island is public land administered by DOC, so there’s plenty to explore. The 1500 residents live mainly in the southern settlement of Tryphena, leaving the rest of the 110 sq. km island sparsely populated. Our journey started with a high-speed ferry trip from Auckland central. In two hours we were at Tryphena — the “thriving capital”!? To check out the island from the water, we continued the ferry trip up the rugged coastline via Whangaparapara to Port Fitzroy. Thetocal.school-teacher/taxi-driver-gave_us-a_lift to Windy Canyon, which has unusual rock outcrops and great views of the island. From there it was about a 1%-hour easy tramp to Hirakimata (or Mount Hobson), the highest point on the island (621m). Near the top the bush is lush with a few mature kauri that survived the logging days. The 360-degree views from the summit took in Fitzroy Harbour, Auckland, Barrier’s east coast beaches, and the Coromandel Peninsula.
Angela Hawes
The two-hour descent to Kaiarara Hut was just as scenic, with huge cliffs and gullies. About 45 minutes’ walk from the hut there’s a massive kauri dam — one of the biggest and best preserved in the country. Being the second week of January, we expected the 24-bed hut to be packed, and were surprised to find only one other punter. Several thousand mozzies kept us company instead! Tip: Bring a generous supply of Dimp and mosquito coils! From Kaiarara Hut we took the seaward track via Bush’s Beach, Kaiarara Bay, Coffin’s Creek, Kiwiriki Bay, and Maungapiko Lookout (a 200m knob with great views) to Whangaparapara Hut. At a leisurely pace with lots of swims, this took most of the day. The bush was amazing — literally thousands of kauri regenerating. A few hundred metres from the hut is a not-to-be-missed water hole and waterfall called Kauri Falls. For the next few days this was our swimming 100 pe rs . On day three we explored Whangaparapara Harbour and checked out the hot springs. Whangaparapara’s main features are a small general store, a wharf, and the Great Barrier Lodge. We visited the remains of the whaling station and the Kauri Timber Company sawmill — the largest in the Southern Hemisphere in 1910. The rural delivery mail lady gave us a lift to the hot springs track end. These hot springs join a little stream, I creating several natural rock pools of varying temperatures. We managed to consume most of that afternoon soaking, before completing the circuit track along the old Kauri tram line, back to Whangaparapara Hut. The next morning we decided to hitch back up to Port Fitzroy to go sea kayaking around Fitzroy’s sheltered harbour. We certainly met some interesting characters: the local golf instructor, a hippy solo dad, a farmer, and the island nurse. Tony from Fitzroy House decked us out with kayaking gear, and off we set, right up the harbour and back, exploring side rivers, echo cliffs, and a Manuka products manufacturer. We expected hitching all the way down the island to Tryphena to take all day. The locals are good at picking you up, but there are not many of them on the road! We fluked a lift the whole way in one car, so spent the afternoon checking out Tryphena. “The Stray Possum” hostel was a great place to stay — about one kilometre back from the beach, set in bush.
At the Saturday night BBQ we met travellers from all over the globe. On our last day we bought “The Stray Possum” pass, which entitled us to mini van trips, snorkelling gear and use of mountain bikes. The shuttle bus took us up to Kaitoke and Medlands beaches. We did a huge beach walk, exploring the caves and rock pools between the two beaches. There was just enough time for a mountain bike ride around Tryphena before being shuttled up to Claris Airport to fly back to Auckland with Great Barrier Airlines. It was nice to see where we’d tramped from the air. The views over the Barrier, Coromandel, Waiheke, Rangitoto and so on were well worth the flight. (In fact, the boat-fly option was very good value: ferry both ways was $89, plane both ways was $169 and fly-boat option was only $115.) All in all, Great Barrier Island gave us a fabulous six-day adventure. If you’re looking for something a bit different with bush, beaches, friendly locals, and tranquillity then “The Barrier” is the place for you.
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