Rakiura Track Map

You will pass historic sights and see many of the island's usual seabirds and woodland flock. Part of it crosses the Maori country and the entrance is done with kind permission of the owner. Two cabins (Port Willam and North Arm) and three camping grounds (Maori Beach, Port William and North Arm) on the Rakiura Track.

The path along the shore leads through the Lee Bay Chained-Link Sculpture to Little River, which is traversed by a viaduct. It is possible to run around the shore at low water and take the path at this point. Then the path leads around Peter's Point and on to Maori Beaches.

At low water, the stream at the south end of Maori Beach can be gently forded, but at high water further on the way to a small pedestrian overpass. There is a track that leads to a rusty boilers, a relict from the time of the sawmill, only a few moments away from the turnoff to this crossroad.

The Maori Strand camping site is located on a meadow near the shore. There is a bigger river crossing the tide at the north end of the shore and from here the path rises up a small mound and leads to the crossroads with the path to the north arm. Take a right turn and you will descend to the campground above Magnetic Beaches in Port William/Potirepo.

Port-William Hut is only a few walking steps away from the camp. The route begins on the Maori Beach-Port William hills. Hitchhikers usually spend the nights in Port William Hut and then drive the 40 min back to the turnoff. This trail leads through a multitude of flora, among them previously cut and untouched forests of podocarps.

Remains of cutting work can be seen along the route, as they follow old tracks in which the trunks are guided to their various places of destination. There is a campground with bunker and toilets above the North Arm Hut. Hitchhikers have easy entry to the banks of Paterson Inlet. It winds around the promontory from North Arm to Sawdust Bay and past a saw mill site that was in operation between 1914 and 1918.

We continue through the wooded areas of Kidney Fern Arm and Kaipipi Bay, ruled by rivers such as the riverside forests of Kimu and Kamay. In Kaipipi Bay, two saw mills had more than 100 employees in the 1860'. Between Kaipipi and Halfmoon Bay, the route follows the former Kaipipi Road, which in its prime was the most used and best kept on the isle.