About Whakanewha
Escape overseas and visit this park on the western side of Waiheke Island. Whakanewha offers sheltered swimming on a long, sweeping beach with a panoramic bush clad backdrop. You can also enjoy camping and picnic sites on the foreshore.
Park information
| Pedestrian access: |
Open 24 hours |
| Summer gate opening hours: |
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. (Daylight savings)
|
| Winter gate opening hours: |
8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Non daylight savings)
|
| Distance from CBD: |
40 km |
| Park map: |
Click here to download a park map |
| Physical address: |
75 Gordons Road, Waiheke Island |
| Casual group size: |
75 |
| Public transport information: |
Catch the ferry to Waiheke then a shuttle or bus to Whakanewha. Click here to visit the Auckland Transport website |
| Access issues: |
Whakanewha has wheelchair access to all areas including toilets and the carparking area. The bottom of the Nikau Track and all foreshore areas are also wheelchair and pushchair friendly. |
Dog walking restrictions
Key information
-
Tarata Track is currently closed due to slips and windfalls until further notice. Use the grass track along Carsons Road instead to access Central Track.
-
Upland Road track between Upland Road and Cathedral Track is closed due to a slip. Please access the park via Firebreak Track if wanting to enter the park from Rocky Bay.
How to get to Whakanewha
Take the Fullers ferry from Central Auckland or take your car with the Sealink car ferry from Half Moon Bay to Waiheke Island. If you have caught the Fullers ferry, catch a shuttle bus from the ferry terminal at Matiatia to the park, or catch the Rocky Bay bus and get off at the Rocky Bay terminal. From the Rocky Bay bus stop, walk up Omiha Road to Upland Road track and into the park.
View larger map
Maps
History
Whakanewha is steeped in Mäori and European history. The many shell middens, pits, terraces and pä site on the headland remain from many generations of Mäori occupation. Inhabitants of the pä would have gathered pipi, scallops and cockles from the Whakanewha foreshore.
Europeans began to use the area for trading, boat building and forestry in the 1830s.
In the 1850s Mäori cultivated the flat land, supplying Auckland with fruit and vegetables.
The remains of a hearth near the Poukaraka wetland mark the site of William and Margaret Carey’s cottage, built when they settled on the land in 1866.