Te Kopahou Reserve

Highlights: WW2 bunkers, views

Length: 3 - 6 hours depending on your route

Where: 15 min by car from Wellington CBD

What to take: Active wear, camera, plenty of water, maybe snacks

Highly underrated, Te Kopahou Reserve has expansive views across the ocean, abandoned bunkers, and some seriously good hill climbs.

Getting there: To get there, drive to the Brooklyn wind turbine by heading along Brooklyn Road and from the Brooklyn township taking a right up Todman St, left onto Mitchell St, right onto Karepa St, and then left onto Ashton Fitchett Drive. Once you reach the small carpark on the left halfway up Ashton Fitchett, drive through the gates and continue up to the wind turbine carpark, which is the furthest you can take your car.

Leaving your car, walk through the gate ahead and along the road for about half an hour until you reach Woofington's, which looks like a castle but is actually a dog kennel. From there walk up towards the Radome (the big white circular building). Once you have gone past that, you have a choice, depending how much time and energy you have on your hands. The longer route, which we took, involves some serious hills, and is about 4-5 hours. The other route would be roughly 2 hours (maybe a bit longer).

The longer track: After the Radome, there is a small path that goes straight ahead off the main road and over a small hill - this leads to the track which will take you through the reserve, up and down the gullys to the stream at the bottom and eventually to the bunkers. This path isn't very well maintained, and the first sign that points to the bunkers is currently overrun by gorse - we recommend continuing upward towards Red Rocks, and then turning left and following the ridge line to the bunkers. Once you have been down to see the bunkers, follow the path that runs alongside the edge of the pines to get back to where you started. We recommend downloading a map if you are going to take this route.

The shorter track: After the Radome, keep following the main gravel road. This road leads into Long Gully Station - which is private property but the public are allowed to walk along the road to the bunkers. Walk down along the road and enjoy the views across both the south coast towards Makara wind turbines, Wellington city, and the reserve. At the bottom of the road it turns into a grass track which winds its way down and up towards the bunkers and the incredible sea views. Return the way you came.