Waitakere Ranges Regional Park includes more than 16,000ha of native rainforest and coastline. Its 250km of walking and tramping tracks provide access to beaches, breathtaking vistas, spectacular rocky outcrops, streams, waterfalls and farms overlooking the wild west coast.
Arataki Visitor Centre is your gateway to the Waitakere Ranges. Popular coastal destinations include the black sand, surf beaches of Whatipu , Karekare , Anawhata , Piha and Te Henga/Bethells on the west coast and Cornwallis and Huia on the Manukau Harbour.
The park offers an abundance of recreational opportunities - swimming, surfing, tramping, fishing boat launching, horse riding, running, walking, picnicking, camping, sightseeing, or just relaxing.
The Waitakere Ranges area is known to local iwi, Te Kawerau a Maki, as Te Wao-nui-aTiriwa ('the great forest of Tiriwa'), after one of the tribe's earliest ancestors. The name Waitakere comes from a rock located in the small bay just to the north of the mouth of the river that flows out from Te Henga/Bethells Beach.
Award-winning movies like 'the Piano' and popular TV shows 'Xena' and 'Hercules', all filmed here, give the park an international profile