The whole way up the track to the Poakai hut my three-year-old boy Lucas was smiling and greeting each person who passed us with “gidday mate”, or another cute phrase he dreamed up. It definitely kept a smile on my face for the 3.5 hour walk up to the hut. I was actually amazed that a three-year-old could happily walk all the way up to the hut by himself. And with a huge smile on his face. I was like, who is this kid?!

If you haven’t walked to the Poakai tarns, you should just go do it. 

You’ve probably seen the photo in your Instagram feed or in a travel magazine. And yes, it’s stunning. Which is why so many people want to go shoot Taranaki from this spot.

But what’s the best way to get there? How long does it take? And what’s the track like? 

I wanted to go by myself with my small kids and wasn’t sure of the best way to tackle it. Or if it was just selfish to drag my two kids up there by myself so I could get ‘that shot”.

But ya know, sometimes you gotta “just do it”. That’s my new motto in life. Less thinking, more doing.

So which route to take?

I looked up what track to take to get there, and decided to go for the shortest one. Obviously. I wasn’t about to take the kids on the scenic route, that’s for sure.

The Mangorei track at the end of Mangorei Road takes you up to the Poakai Hut in 2.5 hours if you go at a steady pace. It’s a pretty decent boardwalk most of the way, that gradually climbs up through the bush. If my 7yo and 3yo can make it to the hut by themselves, I’m pretty sure you can too.

Don’t be fooled once you get to the hut though. We got super excited and thought we were pretty much there (at the tarns) when we got to the hut, but it actually took us another 20 minutes to walk up and over the hill to the tarns.

I mean, I’m sure if you didn’t have 2 kids that had had enough of walking you could do it faster, but we took our sweet time to get over there. Doc says it’s 700 metres and should take about 10 minutes from the top of the hill (above the hut).

So where is the best view of Mount Taranaki?

You can’t see Mount Taranaki from the hut, so it’s pretty exciting when you walk up the track from the hut and see the ginormous cone emerging above the horizon. There is a stony flat at the top of the hill where you get an amazing view of the mighty maunga (mountain). I’m guessing you will probably want to stop for a photo (or a hundred) here before winding down the boardwalk to the tarns.

Once you start heading down the boardwalk you can clearly see the two (small) tarns at the end.

Yes, the tarns are pretty small. Sorry if you’ve been deceived by all the photographers before you and you thought it was a mighty lake. It’s not. But hey, bigger isn’t always better.

What’s it like when you get to the Poakai Tarns?

Luckily when we got there, it wasn’t too crowded and the wind died down just enough for me to get that mirror reflection in my shot.

There is a boardwalk the whole way around the bigger tarn, so you can get that sweet shot of you walking between the tarn and Mount Taranaki.

Since I was a little camera shy that day (and lazy) I sent my kids around the other side of the tarn to be in the photo.

The second smaller tarn seemed pretty inaccessible to me, so you can kinda forget about visiting that one unless you want to walk through a swamp and get in trouble with the ranger. But hey, you do you.

How to get the best shot with the mountain reflection

If you want to get a decent shot, you should definitely check the weather before you go. Too much cloud and you won’t see the mountain. Too much wind and you won’t get the reflection. It’s common sense really. At the end of the day though, it’s pretty hard to control the weather. All you can do is look at the forecast and go for it when it looks best.

If you stay at the hut for the night or camp up there you can get those sweet sunrise or sunset shots at the tarns. When we went the hut was booked out and I couldn’t be bothered carrying the tent up. I assumed I would also be carrying one kid all the way up so we just walked back down to the car after we went to the tarns. 

I kinda regretted that decision as I started walking down the track with 2 kids. They were pretty shattered from the walk up so I had to carry Lucas the whole way down while listening to Archer complain about how sore his legs were for 2 hours. (I didn’t blame him, my knees felt like they were about to give out every time I stepped down another step).

I massively misjudged how long the whole walk would take us and was getting super nervous that we might end up walking the last part in the dark. Thankfully we made it to the car and did a little happy dance just before the sun went behind the horizon. 

Should you stay overnight or do a day trip?

Next time I go I am definitely overnighting. And I’m not going to lie and say I’m going to stay in the hut. Because I am an introvert who hates sharing bunk beds with strangers almost as much as I hate tinned sardines. So I’m going to be super antisocial and take my tent. 

Overnighting is obviously the best way to get a chance to shoot the epic colours of the sunrise and sunset at the tarns. I can’t think of a more romantic way to do it than taking a tent (even if I am just romancing myself).

The morning is usually the most still time of day too, so you are more likely to get those mirror-like conditions on the water. Cone-shaped mountain + still lake + epic colours in the sky = super amazing photo.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and climb that mountain. I’ll see you at the mountain.