Birchwood to Merrivale

The track starts on Struan Flat Road. Walk 250m to the Ohai Clifden Highway. Turn right here and walk 650m to the intersection with Birchwood Wairio Road. Turn left onto this road and walk 2.4km to the edge of the eucalyptus forest fringe. 

Woodlaw Track - 14.2km / 7-8 hours

This track crosses private property, and ongoing access is dependent upon the goodwill of landowners: Matariki Forests, DT King & Co Limited, Birchwood Station and Stephen Blair-Edie. The track is across farmland and through exotic forest, save for a small indigenous forest section within the Woodlaw Forest Conservation Area.

In order to comply with the daylight hours condition, trampers should start out early in the morning and make steady progress towards their final destination.

If you encounter farm staff moving stock en-route, please step well aside and wait quietly until all animals have passed by. Take direction from farm staff as necessary.

Do not rely on drinking water being available en route.

The track leaves the road on the right here and travels up the forest fringe beside a fence line.

Beyond the eucalyptus section, the track crosses a stock lane and continues up a fenceline to the base of the Twinlaw Range. The track line turns left here and sidles east to join with a grassed farm track. This track climbs steeply up the hill face to the right. As the track nears the main ridge, it veers south and becomes less distinct on the ground. Marker poles continue to show the way.

Once on the main ridge, travel is along the ridgeline to the left (southeast). This is on a light but distinct farm track that leads up to the Birchwood Station/Twinlaw Forest boundary gate. Beyond the gate, Te Araroa enters an exotic forest on a 4WD track, then traverses the Twinlaw tops on privately owned forest roads, which make for pleasant and easy walking. You’re unlikely to encounter vehicles unless there is some forestry operation underway.

There are a number of forestry road junctions, but marker poles are in place to show the way through. For the sake of completeness, turn left onto Trig Road, then right onto Twinlaw Road. Keep left at the Feldwick Road junction and continue along Twinlaw Road. This is towards and through the junction with Chandler Road. Te Araroa leaves Twinlaw Road on a 4WD track on the right-hand side of the road. There is a turning bay at the end of this track, right on the Twinlaw/Woodlaw Forest boundary.

Te Araroa enters the beech forest from the turning bay. This is on a tramping track, within the Woodlaw Forest Conservation Area. The track traverses uneven ground towards Woodlaw Peak then descends towards a narrow strip of exotic forest. Here it joins with a 4WD track that leads to a junction. Turn right at this junction onto the forestry road, and soon the road emerges from the forest. It then continues down a long fenced straight, which leads out through farmland towards Scotts Gap-Feldwick Road. (It is 13km to the right via Lower Scotts Gap Road and Otautau-Tuatapere Road to Otautau.)

From the Woodlaw Track trailhead, turn left onto Scotts Gap-Feldwick Road and walk the road shoulder through Scotts Gap junction and onto Upper Scotts Gap Road. Continue down Upper Scotts Gap Road, then turn right and walk up Hewitt Road. The Island Bush Track starts up the road at the gate on the exotic forest fringe. This is a 3.5km connection.

Island Bush Track - 4km / 1.5 hours

This track is through the exotic forest and then across farmland. It is entirely on private property, with access provided by 2 landowners — Matariki Forests and Mike Whale. 

The track starts at the forest entry gate near the top of Hewitt Rd. If arriving by car, it’s best to park near the bottom of the road and walk up. Continue up Hewitt Road beyond the gate and through the forest. This is to a junction with Loop Road.

Turn left onto Loop Road, the first of 4 junctions. Stay left again at the second junction, right at the third, and left at the fourth junction.

From the forestry road end, a foot track leads down between the pine tree rows to the farm boundary. 

Once across the boundary fence, turn left onto the farm track and descend. Markers show the way down the track and across a paddock to a pine shelter-belt. The track then turns right and follows this line of trees to a gate. Through the gate, the track crosses a bridge and then heads diagonally to the right towards a gap in another shelter-belt. Once through the gap, the roadside stile is visible ahead to the right. (It is left for 13km to Otautau, and Tuatapere is 28km to the right.)

There is parking opposite the trailhead.

From the Island Bush Track trailhead, turn right (west) onto Otautau-Tuatapere Road and walk 2.5km, past Gill Road to the Merrivale Road junction.