Akaroa Head Scenic Reserve Walk

From Akaroa, take the Akaroa Lighthouse Road. This is 11 km of steep, narrow rough road, suitable for four wheel drive vehicles.

From the carpark follow the road down past the foundations of the lighthouse keeper’s house and other buildings, to the site of the old lighthouse. Here there are fantastic views of towering cliffs along the coastline and towards the mouth of the Akaroa Harbour.

From the lighthouse view point, follow the old supply road down. It then passes a horse water trough and an original stone culvert. The road ends at a vertical iron ladder descending to a rock shelf in Little Haylocks Bay. The bay is within the Akaroa Marine Reserve and is home to a variety of wildlife including fur seals/kekeno seals which haul out on the rock platforms, white-flippered penguins/kororā and a number of seabirds.

This reserve overlooks the Akaroa Marine Reserve in the Akaroa Harbour.

The headland is very exposed to the weather. Be prepared for extremes of heat, wind and cold. Precipitous cliffs, steep unfenced drops and access to deep water means that children should be closely supervised at all times. It is recommended that children do not descend the ladder.

The original Akaroa lighthouse was replaced in 1977 by an automated light, and in 1980 the lighthouse was relocated to Akaroa.

From the DOC website

I went with Peter in his 4 wheel drive vehicle. After we parked at the top car park we were passed by an electric vehicle that carried on down the hill. The electric vehicle got stuck further down the track and Peter and another walker spent the next hour helping him out. Peter had to use his four wheel drive and tow him back up the hill. The tow hook for the electric car was under the bonnet, it took some time to find it!

While we were in Haylocks Bay a tourist boat cruised in slowly to look at the seals and birds.

Some notes about my inaturalist observations

-Leptinella dioica alongside the path in partly shady and wet places next to the rocks. There was a large lovely green patch near the top of the iron ladder that goes down to Little Haylocks Bay.

Interesting white lichen covering the rocks. Making the rocks look white, grey and cream from a distance away.
-It was good to see New Zealand's native iceplant Disphyma australe growing in abundance over and inbetween the rocks.
-Samolus repens, sea primrose, I have not seen this before.
-Salicornia quinqueflora, I have only seen it growing in estuaries not high up on rocks. It was very green and healthy.
-Goodenia radicans, remuremu, found in New Zealand, Australia and Chile. Another plant I have only seen in estuaries.
Apium prostratum filiforme, Peter did not like the smell of this. But on the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network it says it is pleasant tasting and edible it could be more widely used as a substitute for celery.
-Asplenium obtusatum, Paranako. A fern that is new to me. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/asplenium-obtusatum/
-Chenopodium allanii, something else I haven't seen before and did not know what it was. On the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network it's conservation status is At Risk - Naturally Uncommon.
-Possibly a slime mold, Phylum Mycetozoa growing on the wet rock in the shade. It was very orange I wonder it is orange because of the iron content from the rock. Very curious
I know next to nothing about these things only that it is one of the earliest forms of life.
-Crassula moschata, shore stonecrop. There was a nice grouping of this plus Goodenia radicans and Samolus repens that looked better than any human landscaping planting.
Fur seals resting on the rocks in Little Haylocks Bay.
Coprosma repens, Taupata
Aciphylla aurea, Golden Spaniard on the roadside.