Goldies Bush Walkway – Te Henga, Bethells Regional Park
Goldie Bush Walkway can be walked from either Constable Rd or Horsman Rd.
From Constable Rd the walkway descends through the Motutara Scenic Reserve to cross Mokoroa Stream. The track then enters the Goldie Bush Scenic Reserve, climbing through coastal forest with regenerating kauri, exiting at Horseman Rd. 4.5km, 1 hour. (Source)
Goldies Bush had never been on my “to do” list as (for me) Constable Road was too far away. Why would I go all the way to Muriwai when there were so many other tracks much closer to work and/or home? Granted, Horseman Road is quite “close” but I had a hard time finding anything about parking at that end and the images on Street View weren’t as helpful as they usually are.
One Friday afternoon when we weren’t busy I got sent home early. Since I had “extra time” I decided to drive to Horseman Road and see if I could find the beginning of the track and park the car. If I couldn’t, I’d still have plenty of time to continue on to the Lake Wainamu loop track at Bethells. Fortunately the entrance is very easy to find and the parking isn’t too bad either.
I’d imagine on a weekend that you’d be hard pressed to squeeze in by mid morning as there are private driveways on one side of the parking bay and you can only park opposite them. Please don’t be “that person” who blocks someone in because you are too lazy to walk an additional 100 metres to get the track entrance – if you are motivated enough to get here and fit enough to walk/run the track, you are more than capable of walking an additional 100 meters or so to get to it.
Anyhoo I digress (can you tell inconsiderate parking is one of my pet hates?) … 😉
From the Horsman Road entrance, Goldie Bush Walkway (in orange) branches off the Falls Lookout Track (in green) after approximately 100 meters and heads down to the Mokoroa Stream crosses over via a suspension bridge and heads back up the hill to finish at Constable Road.
Both ends of the track look to have been recently upgraded (Horsman most recently by the looks of it) but there is a section on the Horsman Road end, prior to the bridge that hasn’t been touched – ever by the looks of it. That section is steep and muddy with tree roots jutting out everywhere. It looks like the workmen started at each end, ran out of materials and never came back. That being said, in Summer I doubt this section would slow you down quite as much as when it’s wet underfoot.
The entire track after the suspension bridge is well maintained and as you get higher up the views across the valley are amazing. Constable Road has much bigger parking area and there are toilet facilities here too, but to there you have to ascend A LOT of stairs, my educated guess is that Goldies Walkway has even more stairs than the Okura Walkway does. I didn’t bother counting them as I didn’t want to burst into tears . One thing is certain, this is not the track to come to with a pram in tow. On that note (well in the vein of) –
Kids – although the track itself is kid friendly, in my opinion your better off taking them down the Falls Lookout Track. It’s a shorter walk, the track is well maintained and they get to see a large waterfall. You can even take them to the foot of the falls by descending the stairs beside the lookout . I took Isabelle one afternoon and she really enjoyed it (so much so that she even wrote about it).
In summary a great track in that regardless of the side you start from it’s a gradual descent on a well maintained track to start (always a nice way to warm up) and if you’re “into” stairs then you’re in luck!
Till next time
