Map & video History Route Guide Stay at the Lightkeeper's Cottage

Map, Route GPX file, and 3D flyover simulation video

Below you'll find a route map, a downloadable GPX file compatible with any walking or cycling navigation app, and a 3D flyover simulation video of the route.

History

Baring Head, officially known as Ōrua-pouanui, is a prominent headland at the entrance of the Wellington Harbour, notable for Māori cultural significance and as the site of New Zealand's first fully electrified lighthouse. The station, which operated from 1935 to 1989, also served as a key WWII lookout and an atmospheric research hub.

The history of Baring Head spans several major eras:

• Māori Significance: Known traditionally as Ōrua-pouanui (meaning the place of the den/retreat of Pouanui), the area has deep roots in early Cook Strait exploration and is the resting place of the ancestor Pouanui.

• Lighthouse Era: Built on land gifted by the Riddiford family, the lighthouse was lit in 1935. It holds the distinction of being the first in New Zealand designed to run entirely on electricity rather than oil or gas. It replaced the aging Pencarrow Head lighthouse and was manned by lightkeepers and their families until 1989, when the station was fully automated.

• Military Use: During World War II, the site served as an essential coastal watching and radar post, with lightkeepers performing vital defense duties.

• Climate Research: In 1972, the station became home to the Baring Head Atmospheric Research Station, operated by NIWA. It provides the longest continuous record of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the Southern Hemisphere.

Today, the site is managed by the Greater Wellington Regional Council as part of East Harbour Regional Park and features the preserved historic lighthouse complex. The beaches and rock formations below are also recognized as the birthplace of bouldering in New Zealand.

Route Guide

The Parangarahu Lakes (Kohangapiripiri and Kohangatera)

After visiting the Pencarrow Lighthouse, the route to Baring Head starts of the Prangarahu lakes and moving southeast, the route follows the gravel Pencarrow Coast Road alongside two rare, land-locked freshwater wetlands.

These lakes are highly sacred (wāhi tapu) to Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika. Historically, they served as vital mahinga kai (food-gathering sites) for harvesting tuna (longfin eels). Geologically, these lakes are magnificent anomalies—originally open valleys that were cut off from the ocean by massive beach ridges thrown up by ancient earthquake activity.

Fitzroy Bay to Baring Beach

 The track edges along Fitzroy Bay, an isolated, raw stretch where massive waves crash onto pebble beaches.

This treacherous coastline is a graveyard for ships. Along this stretch, you walk past the general location of the 1906 wreck of the SS Paiaka. The bay was also a historic source of shingle and gravel extraction that helped build early Wellington.

Cycle route to the Baring Head Lighthouse

Take the track / dirt road that leads up the hill and follow the signs to the lighthouse.   From here keep climbing the track up to the remains of the WWII bunker before taking the track back downhill to the coastline track.

Walking route to the Lighthouse via the Bearing Head Boulders

Keep following the coastline track to the Bearing Head Boulders.   Before climbing to the headland, you arrive at the base of Baring Head, where the Wainuiomata River cuts through to the sea.

This area is widely celebrated as the birthplace of bouldering in New Zealand. The unique, weather-sculpted rock formations at the base of the cliffs have drawn climbers since the 1970s.

The Climb to Baring Head Lighthouse

A steep path leads you up from the beach terraces onto the high plateau of the headland, terminating at the Baring Head Lighthouse complex.

Known traditionally as Ōrua-pouanui ("the den of Pouanui"), the headland marks early Māori navigation through the Cook Strait. In 1935, the Baring Head light was switched on, immediately replacing the Pencarrow light because its automated, fully electric design was far more efficient. Just behind the lighthouse stand the historic military barracks and concrete observation posts used during World War II to guard the capital against naval threats.