Posted by Where: White Pine Bush, Hawke’s Bay
Distance & Time: 45 mins
Take: Sunscreen and water
Amenities on route: Bathroom and carpark at the start of the walk
Cost of the walk: Free
White Pine Bush is home to Kahikatea, and not just any Kahikatea, but an 800 year old one! Thinking about the things has endured to still be here in our lifetime is pretty impressive.
This is not a hard walk, it’s a fairly easy stroll in some lovely native bush with a meandering river. We did this walk to break up our road trip from Hawke’s Bay up the East Coast and it’s absolutely perfect for getting out of the car for a bit and stretching your legs.
Amy’s Advice – stop here for a wee break on your drive up the East Coast, it won’t add too much time to your journey, especially if you walk it fast!
We had a perfect Hawke’s Bay summer day for our walk and the shade the trees provided was very welcome. The walk has a short loop walk and a longer loop walk, if you’ve got the time do the longer loop walk as otherwise you’ll be back at the car before you feel as though you’ve done anything!
The walk is beside a main highway so on occasion you will hear cars but they pretty quickly give way to the sound of the creek gurgling its way through the bush.
The walk is gorgeous though. While there aren’t majestic mountains or towering clifftops, it’s just a nice simple bushwalk, of which there are hundreds of similar ones all around New Zealand. No matter where you are you can find a walk this, and I think that’s pretty neat!
The Kahiketea are pretty impressive. The main attraction, the 800 year old tree is on the longer loop walk. While you can’t get super up close and personal with them (they don’t like having their roots trodden on, fair enough!), you’re still close enough to take in the scale of them and appreciate that they’ve survived for so long!
Because this walk is quite easy it would be a good walk to do with kids, especially if you give them the promise of a picnic at the end! There’s a good sheltered picnic area at the car park which would be perfect for some post-walk snacks.
Thank you for coming and having a look around my site! If you like what you see, or you have found it informative, please consider buying me a coffee – thank you, and enjoy getting out for your next walk!
The photos of me were taken by Paul, and I took the others!
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