Truman Track

The Truman Track is fifteen minutes each way through coastal rainforest - nikau palm, rata and flax - and then the bush stops and you come out at the top of a small cove where a stream drops over the cliff straight onto the sand. At low tide steps lead down and you can walk the beach, stand under the waterfall, and look into the overhangs and blowholes the sea has cut into the layered rock. At high tide the beach is gone and you are looking down from the platform at surf hitting the cliff, which is impressive in its own way but not the same walk. That is the one thing to plan: check the tide before driving out, because the trip is a different experience depending on it. It sits three kilometres north of the Pancake Rocks and takes forty minutes, so almost everyone does both, and the Truman is usually the quieter of the two.

What you actually see

• The waterfall onto the beach - the stream dropping over the cliff.
• The hidden cove - reached down steps at low tide only.
• The rainforest walk - nikau and rata, fifteen minutes each way.
• The blowholes and overhangs - cut into the layered rock.

When to go

Any season, but at low tide - at high water the beach is inaccessible and the walk is much less. Check the tide table alongside the Pancake Rocks blowhole timing.

Honest expectations

At high tide there is no beach and no waterfall walk. The steps down are steep and slippery. Never turn your back on the sea here - the surf runs up the sand fast. Sandflies in the bush.

Nearby

Punakaiki and the Pancake Rocks are three kilometres south; the Paparoa Track starts nearby.