Head to the first Carpark at Bethells Beach, on the left just after the bridge over Waiti Stream.
Pass through the gate where you’ll see the sign for the Wainamu Track. This track just follows the stream. Being summer, the stream was low so we walk through the Stream with great looking reeds on the left . After a while the sand dunes rise up on your right, there is a farm to the left. We follow this stream for close to half an hour before we reach Lake Wainamu.
We follow the Lake on the sand dune side going anticlockwise until we reach the other side (width ways) about 5 or so minutes later. You will then reach a gate where we then followed the Wainamu Track lake side through long grass & Kanukas & ferns, up & down a few stairs & past some Pohutukawas. After about 20 minutes or so we reach the grassy clearing & T junction where the Lake Wainamu Track continues straight ahead & the Houghton Track is on the left. We head left.
The Houghton track starts off upwards at a reasonable gradient at first, then gets fairly steeper. It does ease up in parts, but is mostly just up. At the top of the a fairly steep part the Houghton Track veers to the left at a kind of right angle. More or less straight ahead is a small unmarked track. We head straight, this track is fairly overgrown & there are plenty of fallen trees to climb under & climb over. After about 5 or so minutes this unnamed track comes out into another much wider (enough for a quad bike) track being another T junction intersection. This wider track is also unnamed & either side heads upwards. To the right will lead you back towards the dunes & lake. We head left. This is at a fairly easy gradient upwards and after about another 5 minutes reaches another T junction of another unnamed wide quadbike track. To the left leads towards the Kuataika Track & to the right heads towards the sea. We head right. After another 20 minutes we reach another T junction (yes you guessed it, unnamed). To the right & downwards leads towards Lake Kawaupaka (this is privately owned –so no swimming or fishing if you were thinking of it) & straight ahead continues towards the sea. This junction is quite a wide long grassy clearing and makes for a nice stop for a cuppa tea & some Golden Crunch Cookies. Afterwards, we continue straight ahead. After about 10 minutes or so we reach another kind of T junction of more unnamed tracks. On the left leads toward Cannibal Stream (& eventually to Kuataika Track), but we continue straight on and upwards at a pretty easy going gradient. At the top of this uphill you see the Kuataika Trig Lookout on your left & the sea straight on. After about 20 minutes or so we reach another cross junction. To the left leads towards Cannibal Stream & Pareoha Bay. This is so overgrown with gorse & cutty grass that we decide to give a miss (as long trousers were definitely required for this one) to the left leads downwards towards Bethell’s beach. We continue straight on for another 20 metres of so where the quadbike track ends at the cliff & a great view. There is a small walking track to the right where it leads to a dead end but another a spectacular view & a nice place to stop. We then back track towards the cross junction and head down (now on our left) towards Bethell’s Beach on the wide quad baike track. There are various dead end tracks to the left which lead to some great view points of Wahirua & Wigmore Bays. On our way down we also sighted a remarkable Y shaped double Nikau . Towards the bottom, the track is through long grass up a slight gradient and then reaches a T junction. On the right leads to Private properties and views of lake Waiataru & the left is towards the beach. We head right for a wee look at the lake.
This is fenced off but is still very pretty with ducks & geese & lilly pads with flowers. We then back track towards the beach via a detour up a grassy bank with a great view of the beach to stop for our Hummus & Portuguese Sarnies. After lunch we head along the beach for about half an hour & then head up via the carpack to the road. We then walk along the road towards our carpack for Another 20 minutes or so.
Total loop time about 4 ½ hours.
Once back at the car we take off our shoes & take a stroll in the stream back to the lake – but this time for a swim.