New Zealand Walk/Bike: Walking and biking around Napier
Napier is a lovely place to visit for a walking/biking holiday. A shared path runs from Bayview in the north, to Clifton in the south. It is equally good to walk or bike.
There is also a wetlands loop with opportunities to see lots of bird life – pied stilts, spoon bills, herons, and godwits can be spotted.
From Clifton, you can organise a tractor ride to visit the Gannets at
Cape Kidnappers
There are also trails following the Tutaekuri, Tukituki and Ngaruroro rivers. All are well marked and maps are available from the Visitor Information Centre in town.
The river trails are perhaps not so interesting to walk with long stretches of flat, straight stop banks, with unchanging scenery, apples or grapes.
Between the rivers and the track is usually an area of trees and scrub, so there are not many river views. It’s really cruisy to bike along, but a little bit monotonous when walking. Using the Holiday Park at Bayview as a base, we spent four days exploring the area.
On our first day we biked through wetlands by the Ahuriri Estuary, and on to the coast, stopping at Perfume Point Reserve to see the enormous ‘Beach Chairs’.