Hiking Northland, New Zealand

Hiking is one of our favorite activities. It’s an opportunity to enjoy nature, find scenic lookouts, get some exercise, and best of all it’s free! We were really excited to set out on some of New Zealand’s wilderness and we found great hikes for our first few!

Reotahi Shoreline Loop

We came across this 2 hour loop our first day touring east Northland. As our guidebook (NZ Frenzy by Scott Cook) says, it’s a bit of everything! We started the trek along a nice path that curved past ruins of a factory from the 1910s. A plaque explained that it was the first freezing works in the area. It was destroyed by fire in 1921 and was not rebuilt. Will read the information and proclaimed that the factory was a processing plant for ice that was shipped from America. He still owes me a beer for that bet.

The well groomed path continued along the shoreline with beautiful views of a bay extending out to the Pacific. Then as it led us into a wooded area, we began to climb Mt. Aubrey. At the top of the ascent, we searched for lookouts that would provide views through the trees. Will found a path that just seemed to lead to a rock face but sure enough, he found one of the three peaks of Mt. Aubrey. The rock face provided plenty of handholds to allow for an easy climb. The hardest part was avoiding the pretty bush with yellow flowers. It looks innocent enough, but the leaves are very sharp points that leave whatever body part touching it in sharp pain. And while climbing, it’s not always easy to move away from the sharp plant.

The top provided stunning views. We could even see the Pacific to our east across the other side of the peninsula. While looking to the north, we could see the other 2 peaks of Mt. Aubrey. We decided to skip the middle lookout and made our way to the main rock dome. The climb up was not as steep as the first but there was several prickly bushes close to the path. We push our way through to an amazing 360 degree view. It included a huge oil refinery across the bay and a towering Mt. Manaia off to the other side. It was stunning.

First lookout on top of Mt Aubrey - to the south

Mt Aubrey from afar

Reotahi Shoreline Loop trail with Mt Manaia in the background

Whangarei Freezing Works ruins

Pretty but painful prickly bush

First lookout on top of Mt Aubrey - to the north with other lookouts in view

Selfie at second lookout (Will is such a show off)

Second lookout on top of Mt Aubrey - overlooking the oil refinery

Second lookout on top of Mt Aubrey - to the south with the other lookouts in view

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Waiotemarama Bush Walk

Waterfall at Waiotemarama Bush Walk

While working our way back south touring west Northland, we ventured inland for this 7km bush walk. An easy path lead to a beautiful waterfall amongst a moist forest. After passing the river, the path climbed to the top of the waterfall and into the woods beyond. We both had remembered reading in the guidebook that this path was a loop and we would end up back at the waterfall, but there was only one path so we could not figure out how it would loop. We discussed that we would turn back after an hour of hiking if it did not seem to be leading back at that point.

It didn’t take long for us to see why this hike is so neat as the path started winding around and through a few kauri trees. Although not as ginormous as the kauri trees in Waipoua Forrest, these trees were quite impressive to hike along. As we continued, we spotted more and more of the trees until we met a fork in the path. We found the loop! The trail loops through a grove of untouched kauri trees. It was beautiful to be in a forest and imagine how the North Island would have been covered in these beauties. Sadly, decades of logging has made this hike a rare sight. We finished the mini loop and worked our way back to the waterfall where lunch and a beer awaited.