Discover the Monro Beach Walk
Located in South Westland on the South Island, the Monro Beach Walk is a superb 40-minute stroll through ancient forest leading to Monro Beach. This walk is particularly appealing for its towering, ancient rimu and kahikatea trees, as well as the distinctive kōtukutuku trees with their orange trunks.
A Journey Through Ancient Forest
The walk begins with a short swing bridge crossing over Monro Creek. After this, you follow a whitebaiters' access road through the forest for a few hundred metres. The main track to the beach then diverges from this road. As you walk, you'll be surrounded by gnarled ancient trees adorned with ferns, lichens, and moss.
Another feature of this forest is the "forever trees". These are kamahi trees, best recognised by their red buds and white hebe style flowers in Summer. They grow to about 20 metres tall, so are generally less impressive than the ancient rimu and kahikatea trees. However, as they age, they tend to collapse and then resprout from the fallen trunks. Over 100s, and maybe thousands, of years, this repeating cycle results in extraordinary, weirdly shaped trees. Add in the lichens and moss of the rainforest, and you are bound to discover whimsical sights like goblins in front of their dens or legs hanging from trees.
How to Get There
The entrance to the car park is located just past the Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki gate on State Highway 6 when heading north. A toilet is available at the car park. It is a 31-minute, 39 km drive from Haast to the south, and 70 minutes, 87 km, from Glacier Country to the north.
From the car park, you can also do the Lower Moeraki River Track. On the south side of the road is Lake Moeraki, with access at the north and south ends of the lake. Heading north, you can discover the Haast to Paringa Cattle Track and Lake Paringa. To the south is Ship Creek.
