Found: Auckland's most beautiful nature walk

Ōmanawanui Track in the Waitakere Ranges. Photo / Tim Roxborogh

I'm going cut to the chase: the Ōmanawanui Track in the Waitākere Ranges is Auckland's single greatest walk. That's right, not "one of", not "among", not "up there with", but unimpeachably THE. SINGLE. GREATEST! And yet somehow, I swear most Aucklanders have never heard of it.

Pre 2017, I didn't know about it either. I was in the midst of some only vaguely successful shredding-for-the-wedding (my wife and I were married in October, 2017) and in search of new walks in the Auckland region with which to burn a few calories. Having already ticked off all the tracks on the more official-sounding "best Auckland bush walks" lists, I happened upon this heading in an online review: "The closest thing to South Island views in the North Island". Well, that was all the steer I needed.

In the six months that followed from first discovering Ōmanawanui, to walking down the aisle, I must've done that hour-long drive to where the track begins in Whatipu - at the very southern tip of the Waitākere Ranges - at least seven or eight times. It became a minor obsession and my evangelical bent of wanting to convert as many of my friends as possible - or at least those willing to sweat litres and feel some almighty leg burn - was in full flight.

Ōmanawanui Track in the Waitakere Ranges. Photo / Tim Roxborogh

So you can imagine the distress when post-wedding, post-honeymoon, the scourge of kauri dieback disease forced the closure of not just Ōmanawanui, but most of Auckland's 27,700ha Waitākere Ranges. It was May of 2018.

I always felt Aucklanders coped better than they should've with the effective shutting off of an urban lung three times the size of Waiheke Island. Sure, it made the news on a fairly regular-ish basis, but given just how many thousands of people this affected, not to mention the gravity of potentially losing what precious few kauri we have left, I sometimes wondered why it wasn't a daily headline. And then it was.

February 2021, almost three years since the closure, Ōmanawanui reopened to the public. I'd been given a heads-up from a friend who's an environmental scientist who told me, "You know that walk by Whatipu you're always going on about? Wait till you see it now".

He'd been given something of a sneak peek and had been amazed by what had been done to the track. In short, the best walk in Auckland was even better. Which brings us to the before and after.

Ōmanawanui Track in the Waitakere Ranges. Photo / Tim Roxborogh

Then, as now, the Ōmanawanui Track consistently delivers the kinds of views that have you rattling off every over-awed cliche you can think of. Straddling a ridgeline high above the entrance to the Manukau Harbour, there are valleys of dense native rainforest, overflowing with nīkau, pūriri and ferns. There's cliff-hugging flax, wind-swept pōhutakawa and there are sheer drops to crashing waves below. There are exposed rocky outcrops, there are historic pā sites, and yes, there are steps, lots of steps.

So what's changed? The Ōmanawanui Track could be muddy, it could be slippery and it could even teeter toward the dangerous, especially on a blowing winter's day. There were sections that were steep enough and loose enough underfoot that any conversation would have to be paused to focus the concentration. Several sections required clambering with the assistance of chains affixed in the rock.

The wait's been worth it. The scale of the upgrade is almost as jaw-dropping as those views. According to Auckland Council, there have been 2.5km of box steps created, adding up to roughly 2400 individual steps on the Ōmanawanui Track with a further 700 on the Pūriri Ridge. Not only that, we're talking 700m of new boardwalk, the airlifting in of over 1000 tonnes of gravel, no less than 237 deliveries of timber, a new lookout and even "floating" boardwalks around the pā.

The steps and boardwalks aren't just functional, visually they look terrific, especially as the sun splashes through trees. And what was once mildly hair-raising loses nothing in being safer, drier and easier. "Easier" is relative though, because Ōmanawanui is proper exercise and just when you think you've surely climbed the final staircase, you'll round the corner and there'll be another. But don't panic, there's plenty of downhill and even stretches of flat to regain your breath.

Ōmanawanui Track in the Waitakere Ranges. Photo / Tim Roxborogh

There's no denying this will have cost an eye-watering amount and I'm all for it. The redevelopment of the Ōmanawanui Track is part of a 10-year, $311 million restoration project that will protect the vulnerable kauri trees that once dominated the Waitākeres, while still allowing people to enjoy the forest. And thanks to the upgrade, the single best walk in Auckland can now be done any time of year.

Need to know:

· Length: Approximately 3km one-way, 6km return.

· Time: Depending on fitness, two to three hours return.

· Getting there: An hour from central Auckland, drive past the small coastal settlement of Huia before eventually turning inland and onto the unsealed road that descends down to the Whatipu Beach carpark.

· Where to start: Begin at the Whatipu Beach carpark and walk towards the beach before hooking in to the left.