The Pororari River Track is an stunning, yet easy, 7km out and back track in Punakaiki.
For those who aren’t ready for a massive walk, but want a glimpse of Paparoa National Park, this is a great option.
This post will give you the details about the Pororari River walk. If you want to complete a little longer walk that includes this route, you can do the Pororari-Punakaiki Loop Track.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Details About The Pororari River Track
2. Porari River Track Map
3. How To Get To The Trailhead
4. My Pororari River Track Experience
DETAILS ABOUT THE PORORARI RIVER TRACK
When1: February 2021.
Difficulty2: Easy.
Hike Distance3: 7 – 7.5km return.
Incline4: It’s a gentle walk following the Pororari River with less than 100 metres of elevation.
Hike Duration5: It took me about 40 minutes each way, which was walking at a decent speed. I can’t imagine it taking more than 2.5 hours (return) of walking time for anyone.
PORORARI RIVER TRACK MAP
The track is super easy to follow so a map isn’t needed. It’s on Maps.me if you really want it though. Stick to the river and you can’t go wrong. It’s a part of the Paparoa Track so you would do well to get lost!
HOW TO GET TO THE TRAILHEAD
The Pororari River Track car park/trailhead is marked on Google Maps here.
If you’re staying in Punakaiki for a night, you can walk from anywhere in town to the trailhead. But the car park is large enough that if you’d prefer to drive there, there’s plenty of space.
There are 3 accommodation options within 10 minutes walk of the trailhead:
MY PORORARI RIVER TRACK EXPERIENCE
The Pororari River Track is genuinely awesome for a 7km walk that follows a river. I thought it would be pretty harmless and even boring, but it’s not either of those at all.
As you walk under the trail entrance you’ll see the river right away and I think it took all of 20 seconds before I was wowed into taking my first photo of the stunning limestone cliffs.
The Paparoa National Park really is one of those untouched gems. Even though the walk is at sea level it had a Jurassic Park feel about it. The limestone cliffs climbs steeply above the track and is covered in bush.
After seeing the wilding pines littering the Otago and Canterbury regions it was cool to see nature holding its ground.
The track has the tiniest of undulations at times there’s little pathways that lead down into the river where you could take a swim if you wanted. I chose not too, so can’t verify how cold it is. You might see some kayakers floating down the river too.
Speaking of the river, the colours of the water are crazy too as you’ll see in the photos. That’s because there are some deep pools of water in the river which is cool. The rocks add to the raw feeling.
But yea, it’s just an awesome little walk. At the 2.5km mark there’s a little cave like structure you walk through with some stairs (below) constructed into the rock. There’s only few stairs, nothing to fear.
And then you get to the junction which is easy to spot as there’s a bunch of signs with the track names. When you reach here, you could turn around to walk back, but I’d suggest gollowing the river for another 200 metres or so too the bridge.
The scenery changes as you no longer have a hill next to you so you can see a little further over the top of the plants. Once you reach the bridge this will be the best time to turn around for those looking for a nice walk for a couple of hours.
The return walk is easily as nice!
The Pororari River Track is awesome for those who want to experience a little of what one of NZ’s Great Walk’s has to offer, without having to commit 3+ days and hundreds of dollars to see it all.
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Hey, it’s Jub here. I’m the guy behind Chur New Zealand, helping you have the best time hiking, trekking, walking…whatever you want to call it…in NZ. I’m based in Queenstown and am always out and about exploring trails, old & new. If you have any questions, reach out.