The route I am going to tell you about today was one of my favourites while I lived in Auckland. I walked it about five times, in all sorts of conditions. We found it fairly by chance in 2023, when we had just moved to New Zealand and were exploring the areas around Auckland. It opens up many beautiful views of the west coast of the Waitākere Ranges and of the harsh, restless Tasman Sea.
The photos in this report were taken on different days and on different cameras, so the light and tone may differ noticeably from shot to shot.
I really like writing in my reports that you must check the weather before a hike. Here it is not essential, other than making sure the forecast does not promise heavy rain. Far more important is to check the tide schedule for the day. There are several sections on the route where it is practically impossible to pass at high tide. You can of course take the risk, but it is dangerous, especially if there are strong waves (and on the west coast that happens often).
To find the low-tide time, type Tides Piha or Tides Anawhata into Google, and it will give you plenty of resources with the time when the water is at its lowest during the day. Usually there is a window of about two hours before and two hours after the low-tide peak, when the water level is acceptable for getting through one spot on the route. So my advice is this: if the lowest tide is forecast for, say, one in the afternoon, arrive at the start around 10:30 in the morning, two and a half hours before the peak. By then you will have reached the place where you need low water, and there will be a good buffer afterwards. Keep in mind that low tides vary in depth, sometimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower, but at that spot any low tide is enough to cross the tricky section.
When you arrive at the car park, you will see Pedestrian access only signs and a low, knee-high fence. You need to go around or step over the fence and head down the road. Ahead is a descent of about 100 metres over 500 metres. It is fairly steep and leads down to the beaches and to private houses (technically this is a private road: no cars, but on foot it is fine). After rain or early in the morning it can be slippery here. On the way down a beautiful view of Piha beach opens up.
If you worked out the tide timing correctly in advance, you will not have to climb back up this same way: we will return to the car by a different route. At the bottom of the descent there is a fork. One trail leads right and down, straight to Whites Beach, and you can head there right away. But you can make a small detour to the Te Waha Point viewpoint, from which you can see two beaches at once: Piha on the left, Whites Beach on the right.
To get there, walk left along the grass on the wide road until you see a Laird Thomson Track sign, that is our way. All the other forks lead to houses and private property. It is only 400 metres to Te Waha Point on a good trail, with a small descent and climb. On the left you will notice a branch that used to lead down to Piha, but it was washed away in 2023 after Cyclone Gabrielle. I never did get to walk it. On the left there will be another view of Piha.
Once up on Te Waha Point, you will see Whites Beach and Fisherman Rock. We will reach both of these points a little later. There is a bench on Te Waha Point where you can sit and catch your breath.
Next you need to go back a little and drop down to the start of the climb, where there was the small Piha viewpoint and the closed trail down to it. Here there is again a choice of where to go: either return along the same trail to the Whites Beach fork from the start, or turn left and down. You will see warnings about cliffs, the danger of falling, and no trail. If you are in good shape, that is our way.
The trail there is a bit worse, but it is easy to see and it is clear where to go. After the trail ends, you come out onto a rock. For those afraid of heights, there is a chain to hold on to and steps carved into the rock. It sounds scary in words, but I have gone down there with my mum and with friends of all fitness levels, and everyone made it without trouble.
Then at the bottom you walk a little more over the rocks, and there you are at Whites Beach.
It is a fairly wild beach. Across all the times I have been here, we either met no one or at most one or two people. Like all the west-coast beaches, it is shallow: to get into the water even up to your chest, you have to go a long way out from shore. In a strong current that can be dangerous.
Swimming on the west coast
The west-coast beaches of Auckland, from Piha and Karekare to Bethells and Muriwai, are considered some of the most dangerous for swimming in the country. The Tasman Sea here is restless, the waves are powerful, and the main threat is rip currents, which quietly drag you away from shore. This is where some of New Zealand's busiest rescue services operate. On patrolled beaches you must swim strictly between the flags, and Whites and Anawhata are not patrolled at all, so here you should be especially careful and not overestimate your abilities.
From here we head towards the end of the beach, where a landslide is visible. It also came down, by the way, in 2023. Luckily, a path has already been worn to the left of it, which you can climb.
The climb is steep but short, only about 70 metres up. At the top there is a good trail and clear landmarks. We just go straight. There will be branches to the right by which you could in theory reach Anawhata Road, but I have never walked them and do not know where they lead.
After about 100 metres, once you reach the very top, epic views open up onto the neighbouring Anawhata beach, onto Keyhole Rock in the distance, and onto Fisherman Rock on the left, with Whites Beach behind you.
Next you descend to the isthmus that leads to Fisherman Rock. Here the trail gets a bit worse: in places there is thick grass and washed-out sections where you need to descend carefully. But on the whole nothing serious.
When you get down to the isthmus, there is a choice: climb Fisherman Rock or carry on.
There is no need to hesitate, of course it is worth climbing it. There is no trail here, you have to scramble up a rock wall, but the gradient is not that big: I climb it comfortably on my feet, though some people have to grab the rocks with their hands. The holds here are good. To reach the Fisherman Rock viewpoint you only have to walk and climb 150 metres. After the rock wall there is something like a trail, but it is narrow, with drops on either side. You need to be careful and watch where you step, but, again, nothing serious if you do not rush.
From the viewpoint you get Whites Beach from a different angle and Te Waha Point, where we were earlier, and behind you new views of Anawhata. Here too you can sit down, catch your breath, have a snack, and enjoy the view.
Then we go back to the isthmus. The rules are the same: do not rush, step carefully, and hold on to the rocks on the way down. After dropping down and left off the small isthmus, the technically hardest part of the route begins: there is no trail any more, and you have to move over rocks. There are a couple of places where you will have to clamber and scramble over the rocks, but none of it is technically very hard. The main thing is not to climb too high and to keep your course along the shore. I am attaching a couple of photos so it is clear where you will have to climb.
Having passed this block of rocks, we come out onto Paikea Bay. If you did everything right and timed the tide, here you can walk calmly along the sand by the shore, without climbing over rocks and slopes. You can also go over the top, but that is more dangerous and pointless, because ahead there is a section where you absolutely need low water.
Unfortunately I do not have a photo of this stretch of the trail, but the fact is you also have to climb over rocks here that at high tide are always hidden under water, and you cannot get around them from above, nor wade through the water. Once we came to this spot at high tide with strong waves, and we had to turn back, even though in fact only five metres of rock separated us from the place we needed.
Once through this section, you come out onto a flat rocky plateau.
Once we caught such a low tide that we were able to reach Keyhole Rock. And there we also gathered a whole heap of mussels, which we then cooked for dinner after the hike.
Gathering mussels in Auckland
In the Auckland and Coromandel area there is a daily limit on taking mussels: 25 per person per day. The limit counts per person actually taking part in the gathering, so four of you can legally collect almost a hundred at once. That said, the rules change from time to time, and some coastal zones on the west coast are already closed to shellfish gathering due to pressure. So before gathering anything, it is worth checking the current rules on the MPI website.
After the rocks we finally come out onto Anawhata beach. It is a big, beautiful beach, not as popular as the others in the Waitākere. If you feel like it and have the energy and time, you can walk to its far end, and there and back will take about forty minutes, no more. Anawhata is not as huge as Te Henga, but it is still fairly large, and there are usually few people here too. Oddly enough, I do not have a single photo from the beach itself down below, but I do have some from above.
To get back to the car you no longer need to climb over rocks, but you will have to gain a little height. If you walked to the far end of the beach, return to the other end and look for the trail. If you cannot see it, open Organic Maps or Google and find the Anawhata Beach Track, that is our way. The trail is good, and it is about 150 metres of climbing to the Anawhata car park. Along the way, once you are out on the gravel road, about 200 metres before the car park, there will be a small branch on the left. There is one more viewpoint over Anawhata there and a nice bench where you can also rest after the climb.
There is a toilet at the Anawhata car park, the first and only one on the whole route. Unfortunately, this is not the end yet: you still have to walk 1.2 kilometres back to the car along the gravel road, with a small climb. The road is unremarkable, you just have to grind it out and get back to the car.
To sum up, I will put it like this: this route will appeal to those who like a bit of adventure and not only formed trails, but also scrambling over rocks. On average it can be done in 3 to 4 hours at an unhurried pace. The track is interesting and includes several viewpoints over three different beaches at once. So I highly recommend it to anyone living in Auckland.