Is Cathedral Cove impassable?

The track to Cathedral Cove has been closed for over a year. DOC says that the track is impassable, and is so dangerous that it will take years to reopen it (until the Minister got involved, and now they are saying it may open by this summer).

But locals in Hahei have told me that the track damage is quite minor, and in fact one local said:

Hi, walked cathedral cove 6 times(fitness) two weeks ago.

Apart from having to walk around 5  DOC fences and initially over a 2.4 wooden wall the track was in great order.

EXCEPT  for a 12 meter slip that we walked up and around. Plus where DOC dropped 3 trees over the track which we walked under(safely) Have got photos but not very techy.

My fencing son with mate could clear the trees and post the slip area for railed steps in two days. Rails with a builder helping another day.

So who is right. Is the track impassable as DOC says or passable as locals say?

Well in the best traditions of investigative journalism I decided to find out first hand. So on Saturday I attempted to get to Cathedral Cove on foot, rather than pay $80 for a five minute water taxi.

Starts off with a lovely stroll along the beach.

The start of the track. Marked as dangerous with multiple hazards.

A lovely walk so far.

We’re at a high hazard area. That pink mark indicates the path has a small crack in it. Luckily with the right gear we managed to get past it.

Now we had a real challenge. At around six stages DOC has put up barriers to stop people risking their lives by walking on this incredibly dangerous track. As you can see, you have to walk a few metres down the bank to get past the fence.

Here we have some trees across the path. But these are not trees that came down in Cyclone Gabrielle. They were chopped down by DOC later on. If you wanted to you could remove them in a few hours, but actually kids (and me) love making their way through them.

Here at one of the lookouts there is a crack in the surface. But it is well off to the side of the main path.

As you can see the track is extremely hazardous. I was fortunate I am up to date with my medical insurance.

The second to last DOC fence or barrier. This one is more formidable as you have to squeeze around the left of it, adding around 10 seconds to the duration.

Finally, after we are 90% of the way there we come across something that would be risky. You definitely wouldn’t want to carry on that way.

Fortunately there is a very safe and easy path a few metres to the left of the slip. Around a 20 second detour.

As we descend to the Cove, the steps need a bit of a tidy up, but are perfectly adequate.

Finally just before the cove, we have a final barrier, because the steps down have washed away. You could easily put a couple of ropes there, or a ladder, or even new steps. But even without those it is trivial to get down safely – can actually use the barrier to lower yourself down.

And I’m at Cathedral Cove.

The track was far less challenging that some of the tramping tracks in the Remutakas. They also have slips, where you have to detour around. It’s not rocket science.

The test for me is whether I would be comfortable taking my four and seven year old on the track. I actually do get quite paranoid about dangers to them. If walking along a rural road, I constantly look for a fence or tree I could try and throw them over should a car skid out of control. So I take their safety seriously.

Absolutely without hesitation I would take them on the Cathedral Cove track in its current state. In fact they have done much more challenging tracks in the Remutakas. At no stage on the walk, was there a portion where you felt if there was some sudden erosion you might end up down a cliff. It is a lovely wonderful walk, and it is a travesty it has been closed for over a year.

The local who e-mailed me saying a couple of people could fix it in three days was, if anything, over-estimating the time. The only two things you really need to do are rope off the slip area near the end, and mark the detour, and do some steps at the end of the track. There was absolutely nothing else that was a challenge.

All tracks have risks of slips, but they are weather dependent. You could simply close the track three or four days a year when the weather is terrible, rather than have it closed for two years.

Perfect is the enemy of good, and this is a very good track. It is a beautiful walk, and a stunning destination. It’s sad that so many people have missed out being able to access it. The announcement that they plan to reopen it by next summer should be a limit, not a target. If they had the will, it could be opened within a week.

If you do walk the track, once it reopens, I recommend also doing a side track to a lookout. Stunning views. Was so pleased that some locals invited me along to walk the track (officially we walked next to the track, as only the track is closed, not the area around it which is public land) and am already planning a return trip with the kids.

After I got back to the bach, also did around 600 metres swim along Hahei Beach out to a buoy and back twice. Water was surprisingly warm for March.