3192 - Leyland O’Brien Tramline Track, Whakamarama

Trip 3192 - Leyland O’Brien Tramline Track, Whakamarama

Sunday 20 July 2025

This will be a nice winter day walk in the southern Kaimai Range. 

We will plan to leave 1 London St at 7:30am and travel approximately 1hr 45mins via the Kaimais, to Bethlehem and onto SH2, then Whakamarama Road.

Leyland O'Brien Tramline Track is in the south of the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park. It starts at the end of Whakamarama Road, just north of Tauranga off SH2.

This track links Whakamarama Road with the North–South Track, following the old Leyland O’Brien tramline. From the end of Whakamarama Road, we will walk down the Pā Kereru Track for 100 m until we reach a junction. Take the left track, which runs beside the headwaters of the Ngamuwahine River. This first section is flat.

After about 1 hr 30 min, the track crosses the river, and the tramline climbs towards the junction with the Ngamuwahine Track. From here there are two options 1) The track continues southeast for a further 30 min to meet up with the North–South Track. 2) At the Ngamuwahine junction It is 1 hr 30 min to the end of Ngamuwahine Road. We will see how the time is going and how everyone is feeling as to which of these two routes we take.

Once we have enough, we will return along the Leyland O’Brien Track to the carpark at the end of Whakamarama Road and journey home.