The Morepork track has now been marked with orange markers and is open.

From Kaiikanui Rd, enter DoC’s Kaiikanui Forest and follow a well-benched track for 6 kms and past Hansens Hill.  For the next kilometre, an unformed track meets up with the Forest’s NE boundary and follows a fence down into a gully before a steep climb up to a cleared high point (218m) with spectacular views out to the coast and the Poor Knight Islands. You are now on private land belonging to local farmer Don Waetford and his whanau, so please respect the privilege.

(DoC’s estate falls away to the south and if needed, there is a rough track taking the SE spur down to a farm track which meets up with the end of Halvorson Rd). 

Continue on old bush tracks in a SE direction down ridgelines to some pretty little streams before climbing steeply all the way up again (174m down then up). At the top, you climb stiles onto well-formed farm tracks. After 500m, turn off the farm track and cross 200m through a small pine plantation to a boundary fence just west of the Onekainga Trig (227m) and more views. Stay on the track and follow the fenceline past the pine and then down the ridgeline in native bush for 1.5 km. By now you have left the Waetford block, and are in the Harman’s farm and just as you leave the bush, have lovely views over the inner Whananaki estuary.
For the last 800m, you are following the SW fenceline across pasture. There may be magnificent Charolais bulls grazing. If so, walk slowly and quietly by the fence, waiting for them to move if need be.
At the southern end of the paddock, over the stile, you emerge onto Whananaki North Rd.

The Morepork track is well used by DoC for predator control, consequently there are a number of different colored markers for traps and bait stations. Stay clear of those and follow the orange markers. The last kilometer, before the Morepork track joins onto the Onekainga track, requires a little more focus, as you will have left the well benched track and are now following a smaller, less obvious track where some sections get worked over by wild pigs.