Tag Archives: Duke’s Nose Hike

The Duke’s Runny Nose

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Whangaroa is a pretty secluded harbor with several bays available for anchoring.  It has super lush hillsides covered in trees and shrub that line the beautiful blue waters.  Whangaroa is famous for the Duke’s Nose hike. 

The Duke’s Nose: can you see the face in the rock?  The ear is on the left, and the eye is above the beakish nose.

We did this hike a few years ago but it was time to revisit it again (see post from 2023).  Unfortunately our timing was not so great this year.  We just had a massive rain storm which meant the trail would be super muddy and slippery.  However we were in the middle of preparing for Cyclone Vaianu so this was our only shot to hike up.

The Duke’s Nose Hike

Starting at Rere Bay, go to the DOC (Department of Conservation) Hut.  This is the start of the walk which is only 1.3 miles return with an elevation of 571′.  It took us about 1hr47min return with a long stop at the top to take some drone photos.  Our total moving time was only 49 minutes return.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking that the short distance and travel time means that this is an easy hike.

The track follows the stream behind the DOC (Department of Conservation) Hut towards the Duke’s Nose.

There was also another stream the ran down the track making this a super slippery trek.  But on the positive side it was super lush and green all around us.

The majority of the track winds steadily through scrub and has a gradual climb, though not overly steep.  However, the real challenge is in the final 50 meters which feels more like rock climbing than tramping.

There are two sections that are really steep, in fact one is actual vertical!  DOC installed (2) metal poles into the rock to make it “easier” for the hikers to rock climb up the mountain side.

The Duke’s Head

This particular hike actually takes you to the top of the Duke’s Head (not his nose).  The views of Whangaroa Bay are usually stunning.  However, with the recent rain storms the mountains have dumped a lot of mud and dirt into the bays making them brown.  

Or as Matt says, “The Duke’s Nose was particularly runny causing the water to turn brown.”

But with the brown water comes lots of waterfalls (right photo).

Matt took some cool drone shots…can you find us in each shot?

Enjoying the rewarding views on top of the Duke’s Nose.

The waters are normally a beautiful blue.  The below photos were taken by previous visitors (from No Foreign Land).  Showing you how beautiful the water typically is at Whangaroa.

Matt and I were both happy we were able to get this hike in between the storm and cyclone.  Well worth the effort.

Find the hike on No Foreign Land.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events.

We hiked up to the Duke’s Nose in early April 2026.

Northland: Bay of Islands & Whangaroa

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We have slowly been making our way North as we continue to explore the Northland area of New Zealand.  There are so many beautiful islands, motus and bays that one could explore the Northland for months and still not see everything.

Since we only had 3-3.5 months of sailing around NZ we decided to focus on the NE side of the North Island (Northland).  We played in the blue area.

Cape Brett and Piercy Island

As we head North we pass by Cape Brett and its beautiful lighthouse and the famous Piercy Island (also known as Hole in the Rock).  We had super calm conditions with light winds and no swell.  There were tons of birds all over the place and they waited until the last minute to scatter on our approach.

We continued on to a small island called Otehei Island which has a beautiful restaurant beach bar.  It was super, super shallow on approach so we took it very slow and anchored in 3m of water (that’s pretty shallow, even for us).  But we went ashore and enjoyed a tasty lunch as we watched the people and enjoyed the beach.

There was some really bad weather forecasted so we headed into the Bay of Islands the next day.

Bay of Islands

We only planned to stay in the Bay of Islands for a few days as there is a known barnacle problem here.  After spending so many days cleaning our bottom we did not want to have to do it again.  But, there was no “safe” place for us to go with these predicted winds so we decided to go into the marina at Opua.  The only reason we are here is to meet with a few vendors.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and tied up in our slip.  We met with Kim at Masterpieces in Canvas who is doing a few more projects for us. We also met with Roger at North sails who did a free evaluation of our sails and we met with Matthew Duckett our sparky.  We also were able to do several loads of laundry, dump our trash and recycling and get a provision run.  The weather did come and we saw 38kts of wind and lots of rain.  So, we hunkered down inside our little cave. All in all a super productive 3 days in the marina.  

We were anxious to leave the marina, mainly because of the barnacles.  After leaving the dock, we headed North to continue our Northland adventures.  We are trying to make our way to Whangaroa but first we stopped at the famous Cavalli Islands.

Cavalli Islands

Many cruisers and locals told us that the Cavalli Islands are a must see.  We did not start looking at anchorages until we were 15nm away from the Cavalli islands. Probably not our best move.  What we found was that there is only 1 official anchorage, strange.  Well, we found another one at Motukawanui Island.  We anchored at Waiiti Bay and it was lovely.  We had it all to ourselves.

Waihinepua Bay

 We anchored at 34°59.802S / 173°48.969E in 5m of mud.  This is a really protected, pretty, small bay.  There is a bach on one side but not much else here.  The sand on the beach was rich and soft giving us a beautiful array of colors.

Love this photo.

Whangaroa Bay

We got lucky and were able to use a friend’s mooring located near the Whangaroa Boating Club and Cafe. 35°02.554S / 173°44.775E in 6m.  It was a short dinghy ride to shore where enjoyed a nice hike up St. Paul’s Rock.

There are two great hikes in Whangaroa Bay.  They are St. Paul’s Rock hike and Duke’s Nose Hike.  We do St. Paul’s Rock hike first to warm up to Duke’s Nose Hike.

St. Paul’s Rock track climbs steeply through regenerating manuka bush to the top of a volcanic plug (St Paul’s Rock) with spectacular views of the Whangaroa Harbour. Chains are installed to help you climb the last 30 metres.  First we walked up the steep road about 1.5 miles before starting the track which was about 25min straight up 500meters.

The name ‘St Pauls’ was given to this rock in the 19th century due to its domelike similarity with St Paul’s cathedral.

The chains were helpful when scaling the rock wall.  Yet, Matt still did the climb in flip flops.
We had some really beautiful views at the top.

Views of the Whangaroa Harbor, marina, and mountains.  The lower right photo is a shot of their fish farms which are plenty in this harbor.

Duke’s Nose Hike

Duke’s Nose Hike (kaiaraara-rocks) is literally straight up from the minute you start.  But luckily it is a short 45-60 minute incline. You can access the Duke’s Nose Hike from the water at Rere bay (which is what we did) or inland along a 6hr hike from Whangaroa Bay.

The trail starts behind Lane Cove Hut in Rere Bay.  You can actually rent out Lane Cove Hut for you and 5 of your friends if you are interested in an overnight.

It sure does look like a nose – or maybe a hawk’s beak?

This trail was pretty cool because someone dug out foot holds using the tree roots which made it a lot easier to climb up and down.  Also, DOC (Department of Conservation) installs these diamonds to tell you which trail you are on (they come in many different colors) see bottom right photo.

This trail has two rails that you use to climb straight up (in case you are not a rock climber).  Going up was fairly easy but going down was a challenge as you can’t see where to put your feet.

But the views were spectacular.  There is a nice reel of me climbing down on our svSugarShack instagram and facebook pages.

Simply breathtaking.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  Adventures in this blog post occurred in early March 2024.  Did you read about the amazing bird sanctuary at Tiritiri in our last blog post?