Location: Wairoa
Top Things to do in Wairoa
Top Restaurants in Wairoa
Countries
10 Things to do in Wairoa That You Shouldn't Miss
Wairoa is a town and territorial authority district in New Zealand's North Island. The town is the northernmost in the Hawke's Bay region, and is located on the northern shore of Hawke Bay at the mouth of the Wairoa River and to the west of Mahia Peninsula. It is 118 kilometres northeast of Napier, and 92 kilometres southwest of Gisborne. It is the largest town in the district of Wairoa. The district has been known historically as 'Te Wairoa'. In keeping with the district's vision of being bilingual by 2040, the use of the phrase 'Te Wairoa' when referring to the district is steadily increasing.
Restaurants in Wairoa
1. Coast Park Gardens
2. Long River Gallery
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 2 reviews
3. Takitimu Marae
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 2 reviews
Reviewed By G5006EHrichardw
We were invited to take part in a traditional Maori welcome ceremony. The Maori elders welcomed us and we responded with a greeting in Welsh and a song.
4. Mangaone Caves Track
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 10 reviews
Always check the website for changes that might affect your trip.
5. Gaiety Theatre
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 12 reviews
Reviewed By Cymryyncrwydro - Ammanford, United Kingdom
Good seating, most recent films, reasonably priced tickets. 4 showings a day and family friendly with plenty of parking spaces.
6. Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 34 reviews
Always check the website for changes that might affect your trip. See website for the price of accommodation on this track
Reviewed By AlisiaTki
The Lake Waikaremoana walk was amazing! We did a three day, 2 night walk in April 2021 – definitely recommend 3 days, as the alternative (4 days, 3 nights) means you would likely have one very short day – only a couple of hours walk. We started by parking at the Onepoto entrance and stayed in Panekire Hut for the first night, followed by Marauiti Hut for the second and booked a water taxi to go from Whananui Hut to Onepoto. Onepoto start: We drove just over 2 hours from Gisborne in the morning. The roads closer to the Lake are just straight gravel so beware for less sturdy cars. I recommend just driving straight to Onepoto rather than parking at the information centre and getting a water taxi – saves money and most people seem to do the same. We did hear stories that the Hopuruahine landing carpark is notorious for break ins but Onepoto seemed to be fine. Just make sure you don’t leave anything valuable there. First day – Onepoto to Panekire. This is a tough day – almost continuous, steep uphill climb the entire time. Views are incredible and there are numerous ledges around the place to take some pretty cool photos with the lake. As with the entire Lake Waikaremoana walk, the track is covered in tree roots so you need to be careful with your footing and definitely recommend hiking boots if possible. We did this day in four hours and arrived to Panekire just after lunchtime. Panekire hut: This is definitely a more basic, traditional DOC hut and one of the most popular for hikers to stay in when walking either direction. It is not as bad as all the reviews say - just expect your basic benches, tables, sleeping areas and relatively close quarters as it will probably be full. The water taps inside the hut were not working when we stayed so everyone used the outside tank. Although there are signs that you must boil, we drank the water straight (colour and smell was fine) and it was all good. The views from this hut are great and well worth the sunset/sunrise but if I were to do it again, I would recommend just stopping for long lunch/break before continuing down the ridge to Waiopaoa Hut. Second day – Panekire Hut to Marauiti Hut: This was another challenging day – took us about 7 ½ hours (including the 1 hr return track to Korokoro falls and various breaks in between). The track from Panekire down the ridge to Waiopaoa hut was significantly shorter than we expected. The signs estimate 4 hours and we did it in about 2 hours. Waipaoa hut is also MUCH MUCH nicer than Panekire – more spacious eating and sleeping areas, has swimming spots and large grassy areas. For this reason and the fact that it only takes about 2ish hours to climb down from Panekire, I would probably just stop for lunch at Panekire on the first day and then continuing to Waiopoa for the first night. After some pre-hike research, I found that the maps DOC provides in terms of elevation are not so accurate. It shows pretty flat terrain after the ridge which is not the case at all. Like others have said, there are definitely long flat parts, but equally, lots of intense up and down hills going on. We expected that and so thankfully were not surprised but we can imagine it would be a shock for some. The weather was pretty drizzly this day and so there were a lot of muddy areas and slips that you needed to take extra caution with. Marauiti Hut: This is another basic DOC hut – nothing fancy but definitely not bad. The water here had a green tinge to it so we did decide to heed the boiling water signs this time. Another alternative if you don’t need water immediately is to wait for when you pass Waiharuru Hut as we found that that had fine drinking water. Although Marauiti is perfectly fine to stay in, again I would recommend continuing 2 more hours to Waiharuru Hut. This is the fanciest one on the walk and has huuuuge eating areas and sleeping spaces. We had a long lunch break here on the third day and wished we had stayed there for the night. Third day – Marauiti to Whananui water taxi exit: Again, this is not a flat day. There are around 3 significant uphill and downhill climbs – 2 of which are not even shown on the DOC maps. However this was the easiest day of them all. And particularly if you choose to stay at Waiharuru hut overnight you will find it to be a very short walking day to the end. Don’t worry about finding the water taxi exit, there is a huge sign on the track pointing towards a flat area near the lake where you can wait. As the water taxi no longer goes to the Hopuruahine landing because of water level issues, the new pick up spot is just before the Whananui Hut. Previous reviews had us feeling a bit nervous about whether we would be picked up but it was fine. Taxi arrived right on time at 2:30pm. Since there was a big group of us waiting (around 20 people), one group took a short water taxi followed by a land taxi back to Onepoto, and another group took the water taxi the entire way to Onepoto. Some people were waiting at the water taxi exit who hadn’t booked and were hoping to catch a ride – this is very risky in my opinion as the taxis plan for the booked number. As we had booked, we were the first to go and so I’m still not sure how it worked out for those people who didn’t book. It is a bit difficult to plan ahead and get hold of the water taxi people – I called about 7 times across the span of one day and the line was "busy" the entire time. I also emailed with no response. Luckily another person in my travelling group managed to get a call back and received booking confirmations by email. Just be persistent – I heard from other groups that called neighbouring DOC information centres to try and sort the taxi. Once you have booked, there is nothing to worry about. The water taxi people are lovely and have a lot of local knowledge. The confirmation email does stipulate that if the weather conditions are too bad, they may not be able to get out at the agreed time and you should keep waiting on the flat lakeside area until 4:30pm as they will keep trying to come out if there are gaps in the weather. If they don’t manage to get out to you, then they say you should be prepared to stay a night at Whananui Hut and try to catch the taxi the next day. All in all this was an incredible walk. Great experience with a large group of 6 people with differing fitness levels. Just remember the usual things: bring cards and/or a book as there is a lot of downtime, bring torches/candles, hiking boots are preferred particularly for bad weather, weather can change quickly so be prepared for hot sun and then wind/rain the next day, and the recommended DOC day routes/huts are very popular and not often the best ones to stay at.
7. Bloom' n Loco
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 3 reviews
Reviewed By vonRothschild - Hamburg, Germany
I have in 3 occasions purchased flowers for my grandmothers grave from this florist. Every time I have been thrilled with the results and price. These ladies are consummate professionals!
8. Whakamahia Beach
9. Wairoa i-SITE Visitor Information Centre
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 10 reviews
10. Te Reinga Falls
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 3 reviews
