Child friendly rating: 5 stars

Distance: 3km

Signposted time: 1 hour 30 min

Bookings Required? No

Suitable in Winter? Yes

Camping Available? Yes

4wd required? No

Parking:

The parking area is right off SH6, called the Haast-Paringa Track Northern Carpark.

The Track:

The track is mostly flat. There’s just a couple slight up-and-down sections but is very very child friendly. I think the only reason it isn't more popular is because it's miles from anywhere!

With my one year-old walking sections and a 4-year-old walking the whole way it took us two minutes short of two hours. It is a very interesting track for kids with rocks and Punga stems on the ground creating “train tracks”. Some sections were wide enough for us to walk with three of us next to each other holding hands.

The forest is very spectacular and the track actually really reminds me of the track to welcome flat. The first section is probably the roughest - the track does widen up and flatten out more than this.

There are some small side creeks to cross along the way, but outside of heavy rain, even older kids would be able to keep their feet dry.

After lots of heavy rain I can imagine that this becomes a bit of a mud fest though.

The bush was very full of kea which was amazing.

Hut:

The hut is old but very well maintained. It does have eight bunks, but one of them is outside so really only seven. Insect screens on the two of the windows are really handy but there was surprisingly fewer sandflies than I would have expected. Just before the hut at the long drop is a clearing with plenty of space for tenting. It’s not 100% flat but there are some flat sections just would struggle to fit multiple larger tents into the area on flat spaces.

From the clearing is a little track down to the river which is nice and sandy and fantastic for the kids. It would make a great swimming hole too.

Recommendations: