Busby Head Track

Busby Head Track

Bream Head Scenic Reserve - Whangarei Heads

8 Rankers Reviews

4 Face-to-Face

9 Walking

1 Whangarei

Maps

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Photos

Bream Head from the air
Busby Head from the track to Smugglers Bay

Information

Busby Head Track

Time: 1 hr Distance: 3 km

Bream Head Scenic Reserve is located at Whangarei Heads, northeast of Whangarei City. The track starts from the Urquharts Bay car park.

From the Urquharts Bay car park, an easy loop walk takes you around Busby Head to Smugglers Bay. The loop track takes one hour. An alternative is a 20-minute walk that takes you straight over to Smugglers Bay from the car park.

On the loop track, you will walk past the gun emplacement at Home Point. This was built during World War II as a defense against possible invasion.

Details

Feature Value Info

Organisation

DOC Northland

Central government organisation

Location

North IslandNorthlandWhangarei

Categories

  • Activity__walking_and_trekkingWalking
  • Free

Directions

To Coordinates

Coordinates

-35.8482572012797

174.534866714478

Latitude
-35.8482572012797
Longitude
174.534866714478

Nearby

Reviews

    • Absolutely delightful walk.
    • Beautiful place.
    • First walk we have done.
    Rating Count Percentage
    10/10 7
    88%
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  • 5.0/5

    A fantastic easy walk with great views across the bay, sunset was spectacular from the WW2 gun emplacements and an easy stoll to the carpark, with nice clean toilets to use !

    well worth the visit if your in the area !!

    Reviewed about 1 year ago

  • 4.0/5

    First walk we have done.

    Very good explanations about pests and diseases (good prevention). All amenities to have a good and safe walk. Beautiful view on the top.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in February 2016

  • 5.0/5

    To watch the beautiful sunset that evening, we drove the highway next to the coast to Whangarei Heads/Urquharts Bay.

    We could camp there and the next day made a nice walking track to several bays.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016

  • 5.0/5

    Absolutely delightful walk.

    Over to Smugglers Bay is easy and it is a gorgeous beach. On round to Busby Head, well worth the extra detour, then back past the gun emplacement. Took us nearly 2 hours but we did take our time (and hundreds of photos!) Not exactly a stroll with a fair bit of climbing, but excellent path and good steps. We did it late afternoon/evening and glad we saw Smugglers Bay in sunshine. Even the oil refinery looked OK! Already gone into our list of all time favourite walks ;-)

    Reviewed over 8 years ago

  • 5.0/5

    Great little hike with wonderful views along the way.

    Track goes through grazing paddocks, along beaches, and under the canopy of native bush. Be sure to check out the inside of the military observation post. The tramp took about 2 hours with children - hike is family friendly but some parts of the trail have steep drop-offs. Clean toilet facilities at the start of the track.

    Reviewed over 10 years ago

  • 5.0/5

    Drive out to the Bream Head Scenic Reserve and you'll find a variety of walks - all different levels.

    The Busby Head Track starts off from Urghuarts Bay, is a loop track and takes around 1 1/2 hour. You will walk through farmland, through bush and along the beach at Smugglers Cove. Fantastic views all around and the track is nice and wide with gravel on it. Highly reccommended....

    Reviewed almost 13 years ago and experienced in December 2010

  • 5.0/5

    Beautiful place.

    Nice short walk with a great little secluded beach at the end.

    Reviewed over 14 years ago and experienced in November 2009