Guided Walks — Dates

Refer to the Diary these Dates page for more details.

Also, see our Photo Gallery page for examples of walks.

The walks start from entrances to the Belmont Regional Park.  Directions to these can be found on our How to get there page.

Guided Walks — advertised

Every summer the Friends of Maara Roa advertise up to 8 walks, held on various days of the week over the January - March season.

These aim at showing members of the public not only the Valley as part of Belmont Regional Park, but at introducing them to the work of restoration being undertaken by the Society members and supporters since inception in 2000.

Guides are drawn from the Society and are knowledgeable and trained to "walk and talk" with new folk who have come to see the area.

With the permission of Landcorp Farming, the owners of the area, walkers are taken off-track to see parts of the valley not normally accessible to the public, who may use only the marked tracks in the Park.

Views of the gorge, side-tracks into the bush to view micro-sites being planted with specific canopy trees such as northern rata, and visits to local schools planting sites are examples of off-track interest.

With the opening of the new Takapu track in February 2004, two regular summer walks are offered, both approximately three hours:

• a one-way walk from the Takapu Entrance to the Cannons Creek Lake Reserve, and
• a Loop Walk which commences at the Takapu entrance and returns via the new track.

Up to 12 people per Guide walk as a group, and stop at vantage points to hear the descriptions and ask any questions.

There is also a break for a snack en route.

Walkers need their own transport, though for the one-way walk participants can take public transport to the meeting-point at Cannons Creek, Porirua.

Note: Some parts of the track are steep, parts are uneven, and there are stiles to climb over.

Want to participate?  Bookings are essential, and for preference, should be made by phone.  Please phone Sylvia on (04) 237.4760 or email info@MaaraRoa.org.nz.

Directions to entrances to the Belmont Regional Park can be found on our How to get there page.

The walks are provided free to the public, but donations will be gratefully received.

Walks for Groups — arranged on request

Guided walks can also be arranged on days throughout the year to suit groups from organizations, businesses, clubs, churches, walking and hiking groups.

Also specialized visits can be arranged for specific interest groups, children's clubs such as Scouts, Guides, Conservation clubs and others for young or old with education or leisure in mind.

The only period when these may be limited is when the farm area is closed for lambing (August-October).

Routes in the bush area however are open all year round.

Tracks planned for walkers and hikers

One of the main objectives of the Friends of Maara Roa is to give the public more access to the Cannons Creek Valley, which provides the only entrances to the extensive reaches of Belmont Regional Park from northern Wellington and from Porirua City.

Covering as it does most of the Belmont Hills between the Hutt Valley and the Tawa Porirua Basin, the Park has five entrances and a large network of tracks on the Hutt side.

However up to 1999, only one farm track existed from Porirua City and one from the end of Takapu Road, a country road near Tawa.

These both by-passed the bushed area, with only glimpses seen.  The extensive remnant and regenerating bush area was inaccessible, with no other tracks, and earlier plans for school educational usage had been dropped.

However in the 1990's with increasing population in the area, a growing number of people on this north-western side of the Park were walking for health and pleasure.

They were looking for access which would compare more favourably with the well-developed and varied tracks on the Hutt side of the Park.

These walkers wanted loop tracks, with reasonable footing and good signage as well as access to the bush and the water.

They did not want to be confined to a rough clay farm track which would be closed three months of the year and too wet for another three.

Thus the Restoration and Development Plan created in 1999-2000 included the establishment of new tracks to allow walkers to do:

• an easy 2-3 hour loop walk from one entrance,
• a 1-2 hour loop from the other, or
• a complete figure-eight coverage of about 5 hours; and in addition,
• a one hour loop through the best of the forest remnant, the "Cannons Creek Circle" track around the Conservation Covenant of the same name.

So far, only one of these tracks has been developed, the Takapu Track.

It is intended to open the others progressively over the duration of the Project.