Walk Details
NZ Walking Routes > Wellington > Lower Hutt > Eastbourne > Pencarrow Coastal Trail
Pencarrow Coastal Trail
- Location
- The Pencarrow Lakes are located on the south eastern head of Wellington Harbour. The Pencarrow Lakes can be reached via a two hour walk or 25 minute cycle ride along the flat coastal road from the locked Burdan’s Gate at the end of Eastbourne.
- Description
From Burdans Gate car park at the end of Muritai Road follow the metal Pencarrow Coast Road south along the rugged windswept coast. As you near Pencarrow Head you can climb the path up the hill promontory for spectacular views from the historic Pencarrow Lighthouse. You pass a child’s grave surrounded by a white rail fence. Evelyn Violet Amy Wood, the daughter of one of the lighthouse keepers, died in March 1896.
The hilltop lighthouse, built in 1858, was the first in New Zealand. Owing to occasional fog obscuring the light, the low level lighthouse was built in 1906 and still operates today.
From the hilltop you can head down across the farmland to the secluded inland Lake Kohangapiripiri. Follow the lakeside track out to the beach and a little further along the coast to reach Lake Kohangatera. Please keep to the formed tracks across the farmland and leave gates as you find them.
Beyond Pencarrow Head and the sewer outfall you reach the true shores of Cook Strait. Ahead is Fitzroy Bay and the rolling farmlands of Baring Head. Away to the south on a clear day you see Mt Tapuaenuku (2885m) on the inland Kaikoura mountain range.
Visit the website below for further information on the history of this area.
- Duration
- 2.0 hours
- Level
- Easy
- Amenities
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- Birds
- Carpark
- Historical
- Mountain Biking / Biking
- Picnics
- Plant Life
- Source
- www.doc.govt.nz
- Discussion
- Start a discussion on this walk