Hunua
Mangatangi Hill Road
Auckland Council Phone 09 301 0101
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Horse Riding at Hunua Regional Park
Horse Riding at Hunua Regional Park
The Hunua Ranges covers approximately 16,000 hectares and contains the largest block of native forest in the Auckland Region. The area where horse riding is permitted is quite small currently; located near Lower Mangatawhiri dam.
You need a free network pass to ride on the Hunua trails, and to keep up to date with access codes etc.
Terrain and Trails
Terrain and Trails
The start of the trail is a wide vehicle track, an old metalled road, but this ride includes paddocks and stream crossings for variety. There is basically one loop track that runs down to Lower Mangatawhiri and back, total distance 6.9kms.
There are toilets etc at the Lower Mangatawhiri campgrounds. If you want to visit the falls or other areas of the Hunua Ranges do so without your horses, as these are outside the horse riding areas.
Map and Directions
Map and Directions
How to Get there:
How to Get there:
Access is off Hunua Road, about 8km south of Hunua Village.
Turn left into Moumoukai Road - this road is sealed for the first 2 km then becomes a narrow winding dirt road, steep up hill then even steeper downhill into the heart of the Hunua Ranges. Be very careful driving along here as there is other traffic and trucks using this road.
At the bottom of the hill there is a road off to your right, Mangatangi Hill Road. This is a private Watercare Road and ARC will provide a combination number to horseriders to get access along this road (this road is flat so if you have made it to the bottom of the hill you will be fine from there on.)
The off loading zone is off of Mangatangi Hill Road, to the right onto Manning Road.
Access and Parking
Access and Parking
Access to the Hunua horse riding trail is a bit of a pain. Because the loading area is inside a Watercare services gate, you need to phone the ranger before you want to ride to check the combination number for the gate (Watercare change it periodically and without notice. There is no cellphone coverage at the gate, so double check with the call centre before you set off! ).
There is a reasonable sized parking area, which is level and allows for horse trucks or floats to turnaround without having to reverse. There are no other facilities at the parking area.
The Hunua Ranges Horse Riding Facebook group has lots of videos of trails and often posts news and updates.
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