This is a braided river bed, lots of gravel and sand, lots of river crossings. Get the South Island river adventure riding experience but with warmer water! This track is for those looking for a challenge and a view of landscape otherwise inaccessible.
The many river crossings make for relatively slow going. Excluding downtime for fixing bikes, 10-15km/h is good going, with river crossings about every 1km.
Check the Hawkes Bay Regional Council website for riverflows at Whanawhana and Fernhill. We did this trip when Fernhill site was flowing around 2400L/s, and the river crossings were 500-700mm deep. There is public river access at Maraekakaho and start of Whanawhana Rd (not where this gpx track turns around). This track also includes the tributary Poporangi and Ohara up to the Big Hill Rd bridge, where there is a gate on the road. The Poporangi/Ohara has smaller, more frequent water crossings, with generally firmer gravel, and less gravel area to play around in.
At the West end of this track on Big Hill Road there is access in and out of the river from a track on the southern side of the road and 50 metres West of the bridge on Big Hill Road, it may also be possible to access the river further East at Fernhill.
Contributed by: @knaufie
Track type: Gravel Riverbed
Track composition: Rough, Loose, Flat
Slippery when wet? No
Suitable for bikes <650cc? Intermediate
Suitable for bikes >650cc? Experienced
River crossings? Yes
Good to know that we dont have to always travel to that OTHER island to find some fun & challenging river tracks.