Image: Neil Dixon | Creative Commons
View of Otaki Forks campsite from Fenceline Loop.
Waiotauru Track to historic mill

Located in Ōtaki Forks area and Tararua Forest Park in the Wellington/Kapiti region

This easy track near Ōtaki Forks takes you to a historic mill site.

The track is 1.2 km (20 minutes) from the Fenceline Track car park. It follows an easy gradient but crosses several active slips so care is needed.

The track leads to a historic mill site  - one of the best examples of New Zealand’s early timber industry sites. 

Ōtaki Forks is 19 km inland from Ōtaki township – approximately 1 hr 30 min drive from Wellington or Palmerston North. The easiest turnoff from SH1 is at Ōtaki Gorge Road, just south of the SH1 bridge over the Ōtaki River. The last 5 km of the Gorge Rd is closed due to a slip. Access is by walking only.

There is an emergency track that you can walk to gain access to Ōtaki Forks. It is 5 km long and can be accessed 200 m past the locked gate on the Ōtaki Gorge Road. 

The Tararua Timber Company’s sawmill was built on the flats of the Waiotauru River. Constructed during the depression in the early 1930s. These mills were typically small-scale plants, with makeshift technology, frequently undercapitalised and struggled to survive. Health and safety wasn’t a major factor in the mills operations, and promotion was often a result of someone else’s grave misfortune. However workers were often thankful for the job despite the harsh conditions.

From the mill, a bush tramway crossed the river on a wood trestle bridge, and headed up Sheridan Creek to a log loading point. To minimise cost, the tracks were laid entirely in the creek bed or on wood crib work or trestle bridges, with the exception of two short excavated segments.