Child friendly rating: 4 stars

Distance: 7.5km

Signposted time: 2 hours

Bookings Required? No

Suitable in Winter? Track normally suitable, hut freezing

Camping Available? Yes

4wd required? No

Parking:

There is a signposted carpark off Hakatere Heron Road.

The Track:

The whole way to the hut, the track is a simple 4WD track, except for one section where you shortcut the 4WD track, and climb over a hill instead. If desired, or you're on a bike, you can stay on the 4wd track, however this will add an extra 3.5-ish km distance to walk instead, which will add more than an hour with kids.

You can also turn this into a 3 day walk by continuing on the track and staying at Double Hut the next day (Or coming via Double Hut). Between Double Hut and Manuka Hut is approx 6km on a 4WD track, and makes for nice short walking days.

There are no trees to shelter on this track, so you need to look out for sunburn/sunstroke in hot weather and hypothermia in cold rough weather.

Our kids could walk most of this track by around 2.5 years old. The general time it takes us is around 2.5 hours if not having too many breaks along the way.

Hut:

The hut is a historic hut that is pretty tidy inside. Our first visit in 2018 the hut was mouse infested, but our 2nd visit was fine, and it sounds like there haven't been mouse issues the last few years. But this is my main reason for not giving it 5 stars as the hut is definitely older and more dated.

Lovely creek next to the hut, and good hill to climb behind the hut.

Recommendations:

This makes a great easy mostly flat hike overnight trip in summertime. Plus it's close to Christchurch! But outside of summer, the historic hut can get cold. It's also not recommended to stay here after heavy rain as the area can flood.

The hut is on the Te Araroa trail, so can be busy in summertime. Bring a tent just incase, or arrive very early.