Whataroa Road End to the Whataroa-Perth Swing Bridge

Whataroa Road End to the Whataroa-Perth Swing Bridge covers 7.3 km, near Whataroa in West Coast, walked as a point-to-point.

The Whataroa, Butler and Perth valleys hold a whole network of backcountry tracks and routes, and almost all of it is multi-day tramping for well equipped and experienced parties. This page is the exception, and it is DOC’s own pick: the leg from the road end up the Whataroa River to the Whataroa-Perth swing bridge, which DOC describes plainly as "an excellent day trip". It is about 7.3 km each way, near enough 15 km there and back, and DOC allows 2 hours in each direction. From the car park the track follows the 4WD track and markers up the true left bank. Just past the derelict bulldozer it is quicker to drop onto the old riverbed and rejoin the 4WD track further on, then the river edge is loosely followed to Big Creek, where the 4WD track finishes. From Big Creek you boulder hop around Big Bend, cross a short gravel beach, and look for the marker on the large grassy flat on the right. Another marker shows the track entrance at the bush edge, and from there it runs upstream on bushed terraces with a couple more boulder hopping sections, passing opposite the Perth River confluence before the swing bridge. About 100 m beyond the bridge the Perth and Whataroa valley tracks split at a signposted junction, which is the natural place to stop, look up both valleys and turn around. Dogs need a DOC permit here, and it is worth sorting well before you drive down. The permit comes from the Westland Tai Poutini National Park Visitor Centre in Franz Josef. Above the first 900 m of farm access the whole walk is conservation land, in this case Waitangi Forest Conservation Area, and DOC’s rule for it is dogs by permit only. Take the river seriously. DOC says these valleys are subject to flooding at any time of year, and asks you not to attempt the trip in bad weather or when rain is forecast. Big Creek is the honest test: if that creek gives you any difficulty and more rain is coming, do not go on up the valley, because the creeks further in will be worse. The tracks are well marked with orange plastic markers, windfalls are cleared annually and the scrub is cut every three years, and summer and autumn are the best seasons. Dre and Hazel sent the whole network in, and the rest of it is real and good: from the junction it is about an hour on to Nolans Hut (four bunks) and roughly 6 hours in total to Scone Hut up the Perth, or about 5 hours to Butler Junction Hut and another 4 to Whymper Hut, with Top Butler Hut a further 2 hours from Butler Junction. Those are advanced tramping tracks and expert routes rather than day walks, so we have described them rather than drawn them. The dog permit covers the same conservation land either way.

Expect moderate going, with around 115 m of climb, and takes about 1 hr 38 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.