Parapara Peak

Parapara Peak Track begins at the end of Ward-Holmes Rd in Puramāhoi, which is a left-hand turn off of State Highway 60, 12 km northwest of Tākaka. There is a small grassed car park at the road end and a structure with a DOC intentions book.

The track enters Kahurangi National Park at the end of the paddock after the car park, before you enter the bush.

Immediately after the car park you will have to cross Pariwhakaoho River and follow the farm track towards the bush. The river will be impassable if running high. The track passes paddocks and then enters the bush, soon climbing the steep-sided gully of Copperstain Creek, literally in the creek bed. The bush in the gully has a primeval feel, with nikau, tree ferns and epiphyte-smothered beech and podocarps towering above.

The track climbs out of the creek gully and zig-zags up the side of a spur, gaining the crest of it and continuing more or less straight up. Openings in the bush allow good views across the coastal plain to the bay. You will reach a knob with a small clearing on top, where a DOC sign reads ‘Para para Track’ reassuring you that you are indeed on the correct track. This is approximately the halfway point (4.5 km) of the uphill leg, and a little further along you will encounter a particularly steep section of the ridge. After this climb the track crosses an area of marble geology and the surrounding bush soon becomes entirely dracophyllum.

The forest makes way for low sub-alpine scrub at 1100 m elevation, at which point the amount of climbing you’ve done truly becomes apparent. It is a short distance to the crest of the summit ridge.

A private two-man bivvy is located a short distance south of the ridge, and offers a little more shelter for a lunch stop if a wind is blowing. Otherwise continue straight along the ridge, following the well-worn track and cairns. The summit ridge is fortified with rocky outcrops, some of which you will have to climb over. The true summit is not the highest point on the ridge; the track reaches approximately 1270 m before dropping slightly to the trig at 1249 m. This marks the end of the track; from here you’ll be able to see most of Golden Bay, and the Haupiri Range and Lead Hills stand out to the south. On clear days you may even be able to see Mt Taranaki.

Return the way you came.

Parapara Peak is notable for its Permian fossil deposits, which are unique in New Zealand and provide important evidence of the country’s ancient connection to the supercontinent Gondwana. The area also supports the most diverse assemblage of Powelliphanta land snails known. The base of Parapara Peak was prospected for rare minerals in the 1960s. A rough road was bulldozed up Copperstain Creek to support the operations, and the original vegetation is yet to fully recover. Gerard Hindmarsh details this further in Kahurangi Calling, along with the extraordinary feats of stockmen in the first half of the 1900s who drove sheep up what is now the modern-day track, and further into the alpine basins like Boulder Lake for grazing.

Parapara Peak Track requires dry weather in the days prior; both Pariwhakaoho River and Copperstain Creek will be impassable following heavy or prolonged rain. The track reaches high elevation and above the tree line it is highly exposed. If snow and ice are present, be careful as you make your way along the narrow summit ridge. Take plenty of water with you as there are no water sources beyond Copperstain Creek.

See the Mountain Safety Council website for useful information on preparing for the outdoors.