Northland’s Duke’s Nose is a scenic day hike with epic views and a thrilling summit climb. Photo / Northlandnz
Mike Botur shares how to make the most of an overnight or day hike up Duke’s Nose in Northland.
There’s a reason you see so many happy groups hiking through five kilometres of Far North forest, grassland, mangrove and coastal cliffs to the stone mountain known as the Duke’s Nose.
Doable within a day, Northland’s Duke’s Nose track – at the end of the Waiarakau Stream Track, 90 minutes north of Kerikeri – allows hikers to walk 2.5 hours in, 2.5 hours back out, enjoy a riverside picnic spot and serene swimming hole – oh, not to mention summiting that astonishing rocky mountain to see what some people call it the “Ha Long Bay of New Zealand”.
On the sunny day I “did the Duke”, I counted over a dozen couples plus family groups, enjoying one of NZ’s best day walks/day hikes.
At around seven hours for the one-day option – including there and back with lunch atop the rocky hunk – it’s somewhere between a beginner and a medium-difficulty hike. Many people choose to drive four hours up from Auckland, so you’ll be wanting to leave at dawn and expect a 10km return hike.
Fit studenty-types love it, and it’s totally suitable for families with kids. In fact, childlike boldness and a youthful streak of adventurousness is needed to summit the final vertical pole-climbing 50m of the Duke’s Nose (more on that shortly).
Organising your day with the Duke should look something like this:
Firstly, if you intend to stay the night, book your bed at the Lane Cove Hut via the DoC website, because the place is very popular.
It’s a serviced hut, in Pekapeka Bay on the heavily forested, untouched western side of the Whangaroa Harbour. It sleeps 16, costs $25 per adult and $12.50 for kids, and offers two private rooms you can fill with your group. The best aspect of the hut is an elevated deck where you can watch the water and cook outside. The bay is full of fish, stingrays and other marine life and worth bringing a snorkel mask or fishing rod for. Wearing sneakers or aquasocks is recommended, as the water and seabed contain sharp-shelled oysters.
When you begin, you follow the often-muddy Wairakau Stream Track for an hour (after enduring a 4WD trudge uphill during a difficult first 30 minutes). The track bathes the tramper in native bush and the stream eventually pours into a Tolkienesque swimming hole – deep enough to jump into.
At this point, you’re halfway through the tramp, in a section called the Kai Araara Valley, which means something like “Eat trevally valley” – a fitting name, considering you’ll see fish frolicking in the mangrove-fringed water where the stream meets the sea.
It’s in the Kai Araara that you’ll first see the Duke himself.
Named for the Duke of Wellington, which it resembles rather well, the 409m basalt rock mountain is a volcanic relic. The Kai Araara rocks are like the tepui of Venezuela, fringed with forested cliffs and waterfalls.
Climbing the Duke starts from sea level, so leave your pack on one of the Lane Cove Hut cots (claiming it for the night), fuel up, then tackle the tiresome uphill slog (25 hard minutes) to the Duke’s nose.
Don’t be shocked by the lack of safety ladder; instead, haul yourself up using the single steel pole. It’s perfectly safe for anyone of reasonable fitness, though I’d give it a miss if you suffer from vertigo.
On top of the rock, you’ll be rewarded with unrivalled views over the cyan Whangaroa Harbour.
It’s all downhill from there – in a good way. Best of all, that arduous climb up the 4WD track at the start becomes 15 easy minutes downhill at the end to your car.
Getting there:
Follow State Highway 10, which turns north off SH1 at Pakaraka, Northland.
Tell your map app to take you to Totara North, 30 minutes northwest of Kaeo.
Park at the end of Wairakau Rd.
You can pay for safe parking at a private car park just on the left at Campbell Rd, or park directly in front of the DoC signs at the end of Wairakau Rd.
If you can’t face the hike back out, book a Whangaroa Harbour taxi out of Lane Cove.
What to take: