Walking the track from Okiato to Russell, Bay of Islands New Zealand

January 26th, 2024

The Bay of Islands, New Zealand has a couple of coastal walking tracks that provide some stunning scenery. One of the tracks goes from Opua to Pahia and has absolutely stunning views. It is undulating. The other is a track from Opua to Russell (you have to catch the car ferry from Opua as a foot passenger, which drops you off at Okiato, where the track starts (or ends if you start from Russell)). I really wanted to do this track since moving to the Bay of Islands. Usually we sail to Russell but since we were in the marina, we took the opportunity to do the walk. 

Okiato was the first capital of New Zealand and you can see some historical remnants there if you take a short detour from the track. The track is approximately 8km long but is undulating and includes many, many, many stairs. The walk though is through some incredible scenery and although it included many stairs, I was so pleased we did it. The track takes you through native forest, Mangrove wetlands, and there is a bit where you have to walk alongside the busy road. We absolutely loved it and we were very tired by the end of it. It took us 6 hours to complete (we did stop and film along the way as well and had mini breaks from the stairs). The reward though was a pizza at our favourite place. Below is a video we did of the track if you would like to see what it's like.

Thanks for reading,

Vicki