The Hinewai Reserve is the Banks Peninsula’s best hidden secret. The entire Banks Peninsula is almost entirely denuded pasture, except for small areas such as Hinewai…and Hinewai is by far the best bit of regenerating forest on the peninsula. The reason that the area is “hidden” is because the valley is a private land trust set aside for forest/ wildlife regeneration and visitation. “Hinewai” is the nickname of the area, and thus it doesn’t appear on maps—look for the Otanerito Valley/Bay. Also, since DOC doesn’t manage the site, it gets no mention in their literature…and since DOC doesn’t mention it, it means none of the mainstream guidebooks mention it either…thus, “hidden” Hinewai.
Most mentions you hear of walking tracks on the peninsula mention the privately operated “Banks Peninsula” multi-day track. But guess what…you can walk the Hinewai bit of this track (the 4th day section) for FREE as a long day walk. An additional bonus of exploring Hinewai is that they’ve made an access arrangement with the Otanerito Bay homestead to walk through their lands to access their beach…and a great beach it is—sandy and welcoming rather than the peninsula’s more common rocky/ shingled coves. Hinewai’s walking loop encompasses a nice variety of forest types—some dense bush, some open views, some gurgling stream, some dry Gorse-scapes….basically a REALLY nice bush walk, with a great beach in the middle!
Arriving at Hinewai’s hidden carpark you’ll find a detailed handdrawn map of the walking/tramping tracks… detailing the various lookouts/ waterfalls/ big trees and such. This map is an introduction to the care that Hinewai receives from its resident caretaker, Hugh Wilson. Hugh’s dedication to Hinewai’s conservation is evident on every step of the track, every informative sign at every junction. Hinewai is Hugh’s Labor of Love—hopefully you’ll meet him because he’s both super-friendly and incredibly knowledgeable! Every visit should start with a stop at the Visitor Center just down from the carpark. You’ll learn more about Gorse than you thought you’d ever want…as well as to get a look at 20 years of “forest-regenerating” photos of the valley— quite interesting!
WALK: Hugh will tell you that the best walking circuit is the long 3-4 hour loop that traverses the far ridge down to the beach then comes back up the stream gully back to the VisCtr. This is the best track for an all-day outing, and the best way to do it is to plan for a half-way stop down at the beach for a picnic/swim/sun before the 60-80 minute streamside uphill back to the VisCtr. The elevation gain of the loop is only 530m, but all the up/down makes it feel like an 800m vertical outing. Thus, this is a difficult loop, not an easy day-hike.
For an easier outing you could drive down the road all the way to the beach carpark and do an out/back up the Valley Track to Boundary Falls— this would be about 45-min one-way.
NO CAMPING: Please note there is no camping available on Hinewai Reserve due to the risk of fire.
