Huatoki Walkway @ Top Tracks.info

Where is it? The mouth of the stream is beside the windwand on New Plymouth’s Foreshore. The stream runs between the redeveloped Puke Ariki Landing and the Centre City parking building. If walking from here, cross Ariki Street and walk up the eastern side of Brougham, New Plymouth’s original main street. Continue up to the Halamoana sculpture on the corner of Powderham, created by local Tongan artist Filipe. Cross Powderham at the lights and turn left walking with the traffic down to the Davies Lane reserve, planted in memory of one of New Zealand’s great plants people. The rock embankment you will see on the right when walking down the lane was built as part of the railway that used to run through here, before it was moved to the coast. When you come out into the car park, walk towards and under the Vivian Street Viaduct opposite the entrance to the car park. The walkway continues beside the river, past the old flour mill site, to the quarry below the prison. Apparently the prisoners would be used to load gravel onto trucks with shovels, going ever so slowly, with the guards telling them to hurry up. Eventually when the customer’s quantity was almost reached the prisoners told “That’s enough”, whence they would go flat out giving the fortunate recipient a little bonus!
The walkway continues at the far end of the quarry, once again beside the river. (The bridge provides access to Carrington Street.) Once you reach Mill Road, you have to cross to continue, a short distance down the street. This is trickier coming the other way, where you need to find Harris Street and walk down this to resume. Continue on past the bottom of Maratahu Street and up a short rise to small picnic area, which is also half way. From here you go under the Parsons Street Bridge, and up to a playground. Look for the concrete path to follow, just to the right. You will come to a bridge, which only provides walkway access, you then need to continue to the right of this, beside the river.
The steepest piece of the track is next, before descending to Brois Street. The track continues diagonally to the left. If you are clever you will need to cross only one street. When you enter the bush it quickly opens into grassed playing or picnic areas. This is the lower part of the Huatoki Domain. To get to the Tupari Reserve (another seven minutes) cross the road access to the Domain and head up the steps on the bank to the right, then down the Johns walk. There are more steps involved in this very pretty section of the walkway. Cross Huatoki Street to the Tupari Reserve. This is a pocket of regenerating native bush. Here there are four tracks to choose from. The loop walk begins on the left, beside the river. Keep left on this and you will come out at the top of the reserve, cross the road and continue in the bush and you will eventually come out to the right of the gate at the entrance to the reserve. The Bendall walk, going up the steps does join up with the loop. There are a myriad of tracks in this reserve, many enjoyed by mountain bikers. The reserve isn’t big enough to get lost for too long, and you can always use the gravel road as an escape route.
Features An inner city walk away from the busyness of the streets. The Tupari Reserve has native bush including nikau palms, and is not unlike Ratapihipihi up Cowling Road. Track Surface Undulating, mostly gravel, some grass. The Tupari Reserve tracks are forest floor tracks, some sections have many tree roots to walk over. Accessibility A relatively flat walk, with a couple of steeper sections between Parsons and Brois Streets. Dangers Mountain bikers are allowed on this track and are asked to respect walkers. Additional Notes The New Plymouth District Council has produced a pamphlet on this walkway that should be available at the Puke Ariki Information Centre, and online at http://www.newplymouthnz.com/VisitingNewPlymouth/ Attractions/Walkways/HuatokiWalkway.htm This information gathered while on site in 2004.

Where is it?

The mouth of the stream is beside the windwand on New Plymouth’s Foreshore. The stream runs between the redeveloped Puke Ariki Landing and the Centre City parking building. If walking from here, cross Ariki Street and walk up the eastern side of Brougham, New Plymouth’s original main street. Continue up to the Halamoana sculpture on the corner of Powderham, created by local Tongan artist Filipe. Cross Powderham at the lights and turn left walking with the traffic down to the Davies Lane reserve, planted in memory of one of New Zealand’s great plants people. The rock embankment you will see on the right when walking down the lane was built as part of the railway that used to run through here, before it was moved to the coast.

When you come out into the car park, walk towards and under the Vivian Street Viaduct opposite the entrance to the car park. The walkway continues beside the river, past the old flour mill site, to the quarry below the prison. Apparently the prisoners would be used to load gravel onto trucks with shovels, going ever so slowly, with the guards telling them to hurry up. Eventually when the customer’s quantity was almost reached the prisoners told “That’s enough”, whence they would go flat out giving the fortunate recipient a little bonus!


Huatoki Walkway
Recommended times:
Foreshore to Huatoki Domain 50 min
Foreshore to Tupari Reserve 60 min
Tupari Reserve Loop 30-40 min (est) The walkway follows the meandering of the Huatoki Stream from the Foreshore to the Tupari Reserve.