Child friendly rating: 5 stars

Distance: 3km

Signposted time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Bookings Required? No

Suitable in Winter? If below snowline

Camping Available? Not really

4wd required? No

Parking:

Park at the North Egmont Visitor Centre carpark.

The Track:

There are two easiest tracks to get to the hut - the Maketawa track and the North Egmont Summit Track/Translator Track.

My personal recommendation is going in via the Maketawa Track, and out via the North Egmont / Translator Track.

Maketawa Track is sheltered, and in beautiful native forest. It's an exciting track with ladders even on the track - which are mostly up-ladder on the way there. There are some tree root sections where the walking can be a bit rough. My 2 year old who managed to walk 95% of Waingongoro fine the week before did not manage this walk on his own. There is also a creek crossing on this track. Most of the way it is not wide enough for 2 people to walk at the same time, and there are some very washed out sections of track.

But this makes the track super exciting! Both my kids really loved the first section with all the ladders, and my oldest loved the next section through the tree roots and seeing all the washouts (though she's never a fan of uphill).

The North Egmont / Translator Track is a nice and straightforward track. But in my opinion - and that of my kids - this makes it a much more boring track. It's also more exposed in heavy rain or wind.

The first section coming from the carpark is just uphill on a 4WD track. After the Maketawa Track turn-off, the track becomes one person wide, with some sections with steps, and some sections that were a little rough for the 2 year old to manage.

With my then 2.5yo, 6.5yo, and 11 weeks pregnant, the walk in via Maketawa took us 3 hours 50 minutes. Out via the Translator Road took only 2 hours - as we were walking downhill on the easy track.

Hut:

The hut is a lovely wooden hut that surprisingly doesn't seem to be that busy. On a Saturday night during the school holidays we had it to ourselves! The sunrises from here are amazing, and you can see all the way to Ruapehu. There are 2 bedrooms separate to the main bunkroom with platform bunks.

Recommendations:

To keep things exciting I would recommend in via Maketawa & out via Translator. The Translator Track is less boring if you're just powering downhill. But ideally, if there is rain forecast for your trip, hopefully it'll be more on the way in than out!

The distance is nice and easy for all ages, but with younger toddlers I'd recommend Waingongoro first if they're walking.