Full Itinerary
Joining guided hiking tours means you can experience the beauty of New Zealand's landscapes with the support of our experienced guides, the comfort of backcountry huts and the luxury of having the details organised for you.
Pre Track Briefing
This is held the afternoon prior to departure at the Paparoa Guided Walks office in Punakaiki at 5.00pm.
The briefing will outline the itinerary for the following days, run through a packing checklist, confirm dietary requirements and issue all equipment hikers would like to use.
Day 1 - Punakaiki to Ces Clark Hut
Level of difficulty - Moderate
10.3km (6.4 miles), 4-5hr
Your adventure will begin with a scenic drive from Punakaiki down The Great Coast Road, which is voted by Lonely Planet as being in the Top 10 scenic drives in the world. After passing through Blackball, we will continue to the Smoke-ho car park and the beginning of the Paparoa Track.
This first section has been in use for years. Known as the Croesus Track, it gently rises alongside Blackball Creek past gold mining ruins and relics to 16-bunk Ces Clark Hut. The hut is right on the bush edge and has magnificent views of the Grey Valley and the Southern Alps. If time allows, you will take the side track to Garden Gully (45min return) where you can cross a suspension bridge and explore a century-old quartz crushing battery and collapsed mine site. Bikers often miss this hut and continue onto Moonlight Tops Hut.
Day 2 - Ces Clark Hut to Moonlight Tops Hut
Level of difficulty - Easy
9.7km (6 miles), 3-4hr
On Day 2 you will be rewarded with expansive views of Grey River/Māwheranui to the east and the Tasman Sea to the west. Moonlight Tops Hut provides spectacular views across the Punakaiki River headwaters to the Pike Stream escarpment and north to the Paparoa National Park.
The trail climbs through alpine scrub and tussock to the ridge of the Paparoa Range and follows this north above the Roaring Meg and Moonlight Creek catchments. On a fine day, you’ll have views of Aoraki/Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain. The 20-bunk Moonlight Tops Hut is at 1000m altitude and high above the treeline making it one of the most spectacular hut locations on the walk.
Day 3 - Moonlight Tops Hut to Pororari Hut
Level of difficulty – Moderate
19.1km (11.8 miles), 5-7hr
On Day 3, open tops give way to alpine forest stunted by the harsh environment and includes the dramatic escarpment – a gigantic sandstone bluff extending 2km along the main range and towering above the Punakaiki headwaters. Along this section the Paparoa Track winds along the top of the escarpment where the landscape is striking with stunning views down the Pike Stream in the east, stretching west to Punakaiki and north-west to Westport.
About halfway to Pororari Hut, you descend below Mt Hawera from the escarpment to walk through ancient podocarp forest under towering cliffs. The track then follows the spine of the Tindale ridge to Pororari Hut. As you traverse the ridge, look north to see the Lone Hand (947m), a curious and gnarled outcrop of bedrock on the north side of the Pororari River and sweeping views out to the Tasman Sea. Roroa (great spotted kiwi) are known to inhabit the surrounding bush and can often be heard at night.
Day 4 - Pororari Hut to Punakaiki
Level of difficulty – Moderate
16km, (10 miles) 4-5hr
The Paparoa Track then descends and follows the upper Pororari River valley, just above the river itself, until it joins an old pack track built to establish settlement in the upper valley. The track then sidles a spectacular gorge and descends towards the coast through beech forest interspersed with northern rātā. From here you will catch glimpses of the lower Pororari River Gorge.
At the junction with the historic Inland Pack Track, walkers and mountain bikers diverge: walkers follow the Pororari River Track which sidles the lower gorge with its striking limestone cliffs and the gorge is lined with lush rainforest, a confusion of nīkau palms and kiekie hanging off giant podocarps, that give way upriver to temperate beech forest and leads you back to the Punakaiki Beach Camp where be began just 4 days prior.
