It’s a very good farm track with large rocky outcrops. On a clear day, you can look east and see the Tasman Mountains and the Heaphy Track. Takaka Hill walk is part of the Elizabeth 11 National Trust. We stopped to stretch our legs at the 920m summit, but the unusual limestone formations caught our attention, we really enjoyed this walk.
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The car park is just below the summit on the Takaka side, pull over to the left and drive in slowly, it is a bit rough.
From the car park, we hopped over the fence and followed the farm track up the hill. I took a short detour down to the old hut thinking you might be able to stay the night, but alas the wildlife got there first. At the top of the hill the road takes off to the left, we took the uphill track off to the right, the marker post was well set out, we had no problem finding the track.
How on earth can they farm this area, do the stock eat limestone instead of grass? There was one beautiful little grassy spot that would have made a good lunch spot under a tree but it was too early for us, we were only 13 minutes into the walk. We cut back on to the farm track that leads up to the TV Antenna. In just under 30 minutes we were enjoying the fantastic views at 950m from the top of the Arthur Range.
On the way back to the car we took the 4×4 track, it was another 15 minutes longer but we did get to see a couple of small sinkholes right on the side of the track, don’t fall in. And we saw lots of limestone formations and got sunburnt as well. In all, a very interesting short walk for the day with fantastic views, well worth the 2 hours and 30 minutes walk, not including all the stops.
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2 Responses
My review: Like a stroll through Mordor but without the charming ambience. Steep, rocky, thorny. Challenging rather than ‘easy’.
Hi Steph, thanks so much for letting us know about your review on the Takaka Hill Walkway. I’ve updated the website now with this information, it’s very much appreciated.