Parking
Start at the Makarora office car park on SH6, about 60 km north of Wānaka. Township toilets are available, but their location relative to the parking area is not specified.
Overview
About Makarora Bush Walk
Why go
- A quick native-forest loop with a pitsaw display
- Easy to fit into a drive along SH6
Heads up
- Very short; a leg stretch rather than a substantial hike
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Mount Aspiring map
Full mapElevation325–348 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active Mount Aspiring alert
- CautionRob Roy Track: stop at lower lookout during avalanche seasonFrom May through November, end your Rob Roy Track hike at the lower lookout; DOC strongly recommends against continuing to the upper lookout because the track crosses active avalanche paths.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Mount Aspiring Tour Guide
Your drive to Makarora Bush Walk, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Mount Aspiring National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Mount Aspiring audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Makarora: Lunch and a Forest Loop0:00 / 0:34
“You're nearing Makarora village, a useful place to combine a food stop with a short walk. Wonderland Lodge's café serves pies, sandwiches and salads, so there's an option for lunch beyond eating in the car.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Mount Aspiring Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A Road Finished in Stages
- A Cicada's Last Moult
- Young Valley and Gillespie Pass
- Why the Fantail Follows You
- 80 audio storiesacross Mount Aspiring’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Kea, Rockwren, Yellowhead, and 8 more
- Works offlinemaps, 50 trails, 52 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Makarora Bush Walk
A short loop from MakaroraMakarora Bush Walk is an easy 700 m loop from the Makarora office car park, through native…
Makarora Bush Walk is an easy 700 m loop from the Makarora office car park, through native podocarp and silver beech forest with a pitsaw display on the circuit. Allow about 15 minutes. It is a handy leg stretch on SH6 and a close look at local forest, rather than a substantial tramp. Published distances vary: the current park information gives 700 m, an older printed guide says 1 km, and the mapped path measures about 600 m, so treat the mileage as approximate.
Look for the tree mixSilver beech (tawhai) dominates the forest around Makarora.
Silver beech (tawhai) dominates the forest around Makarora. Patches of mataī, miro, kahikatea and rimu are the special part of this walk; slow down enough to notice how the trunks and foliage change along the path.
A timber-milling detailA pitsaw display illustrates a pioneering timber-milling technique.
A pitsaw display illustrates a pioneering timber-milling technique. It gives this short forest loop a local-history detail without adding a separate detour.
Access and pet rulesStart from the car park beside the Makarora office on SH6, just north of the Makarora Base.
Start from the car park beside the Makarora office on SH6, just north of the Makarora Base. Toilets are available in the township, but their location relative to the car park is not specified. Dogs are not allowed in national parks; other pets follow conservation-land rules.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Mount Aspiring
60 sightingsKeaMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
112 sightingsRockwrenMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
26 sightingsYellowheadMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
13 sightingsTūīMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
27 sightingsBellbirdMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
35 sightingsRiflemanMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Mount Aspiring. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
