Child friendly rating: 5 stars
Distance: 8km
Signposted time: 3 hours
Bookings Required? No
Suitable in Winter? Yes
Camping Available? Yes plenty in grass
4wd required? No, but could be useful
Parking: Park at the marked carpark on Moanui Road, near the Koranga River. The last few km can be rough, but we were fine in our 2wd. Very low clearance vehicles may struggle - you may have to stop and move larger rocks away from the middle of the road in that case!
The Track:
This is a very suitable for kids walk. It's not very popular with families yet other than locals. It is however quite popular with hunters, so you may be sharing during the roar.
The walk is 8km, but the track winds around the side of the hill staying at a very similar elevation almost the whole way. Not too much up and down. It's not a 'great walk' level track, but is surprisingly good for kids.
You follow along the river and in bush for the first section (Just over 1/3 of the way). Then you cross farmland, and then walk uphill to the gate, and from the gate you stay at around the same elevation the rest of the way to the hut.
There is a very neat waterfall with a chain - you are safer to get wet feet here than trying to keep them dry. - Don't worry it's safer than it sounds, but kids under 5 will likely need to be carried over. If it's hot and sunny, toddlers will enjoy walking through the water, but just hold their hand if they're trying to balance on the rocks so they don't slip
Recommendations:
A great first hike - kids 3.5yo+ can walk the whole way if determined and have done hikes before, otherwise expect to carry under 4.5yo at least for sections. Lots of trapping going on in the valley so you're very likely to see whio!