Distance: 13.4 km (3.5 DOC hours) - Road - Easy terrain
Altitude: 0m to 28m. Gain: 136m. Loss: 129m . Gradient: 1 deg (Flat)
Skills:

Road (1/9)
Formed road, 4WD track, etc

Primary, mapped (1/5)
Formal route, on maps, principal access to hut or along range / catchment

Flat (difficulty: 1/5)
Flat

Easy (difficulty: 1/5)
Grass / prepared surface

None (difficulty: 1/7)
No alpine skills required

None (difficulty: 1/6)
No unbridged river crossings

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

No description

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

Heading west from East Cape Campground, the beach continues for another kilometer or so, before the coast becomes rocky and the road returns to hug the coastline round Horoera point.

Orotua Beach, 4km beyond Waipapa, is shorter and steeper. Waves undercut rough pasture at its head, though at low tide it may be walkable. Further west, spectacular white-stone bluffs abut the sea – travel again is on the road - in places cut into their base. A handful of creeks cascade in waterfalls, small alluvial flats at their base sandwiched between bluff and sea. Perilously located farmhouses tucked at the base of cliffs, sheltering from the elements but seemingly exposed to falls from above.

The coastal shelf widens, and we round the last of the headland to broad flats and the township of Te Araroa.