Mananui Tramline
Hokitika · West Coast
This walk was suggested by the community and checked against the authority quoted above before it was published. The route line comes from official track data. DOC’s own wording: “Dogs with a DOC permit only. Contact closest DOC office to get a permit. Other pets on conservation land rules. (DOC, Mananui Tramline (Māhinapua Walkway) page; the closest office to Māhinapua is DOC Hokitika.)”. Evidence: the rule-setter’s own published wording. How we check dog rules.
Good to know
A DOC dog permit is required before any dog walks here. Apply to the managing DOC office ahead of time; do not turn up with the dog first.
Opens your email app, addressed to [email protected]. You can also call DOC on 0800 275 362.
About Mananui Tramline
Mananui Tramline covers 6.0 km, near Hokitika in West Coast.
A flat, easy walk along an old logging tramline past Lake Māhinapua, doable end to end in either direction, which is exactly how Dre and Hazel do it: start at a carpark and walk all the way through. One end is a signposted carpark on SH6 about 8 km south of Hokitika, the other is off Woodstock Rimu Road on the eastern side of the lake, with the historic tramline carrying the track most of the way between. The middle sections tell the timber story, from the site of the 1885 Mananui Sawmill to the regrown Māhinapua Forest, and elevated boardwalks cross the swampy ground near the lake. About an hour from the eastern end a side track drops to Picnic Point, a small pebbly beach on the lake, fifteen minutes each way from the turn off. Dre's caution about cyclists is well founded: the tramline is part of the West Coast Wilderness Trail, a shared use track graded easy for mountain biking, so expect riders in both directions and follow the shared track code. The dog rule is DOC's permit rule for the walkway: dogs with a DOC permit only, arranged with the office before you go. The walk threads through several pieces of conservation land, Māhinapua Creek Scenic Reserve at the highway end, then forest, then the lakeside reserves, with a stretch through a private deer farm on DOC's own describing, and the permit pill on DOC's page covers the lot. After heavy rain the water can rise over the boardwalks and make the swamp section impassable, so save it for a drier spell.
It sits at the moderate end and gains roughly 85 m, and takes about 1 hr 20 to walk.
A DOC dog permit is required before any dog walks here. Arrange it with the managing DOC office ahead of your trip. This walk is on the map because Dre & Hazel suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.
