Busby Head is a fantastic headland at the entrance to the Whangarei Harbour in the Northland region of New Zealand, this area has a bit of history attached, the first settlers to inhabit the area arrived back in 1820 at Waipu on the other side of the Whangarei Harbour when the Maori were already occupying the land on Busby Head where a Pa site was established, the Mcleod, McGregor and the Urquhart families that lived there have bays and beaches that have there names attached to them to this day.
Busby Head was key military outpost in the second world war and located at the entrance to the Whangarei Harbour allowed a great vantage point during the war to protect the area from foreign ships entering the harbour, and on the northern shores of Busby Head is a huge gun emplacement that faces back into the harbor protecting the city from attack.
Located at the end of Urquhart Bay is a fantastic loop walk around the Headland there is a choice to go clockwise or anti clockwise around the loop track we went clockwise, from the car park there is a moderate climb through open farmland through a saddle and at the top of the climb there is a fantastic view down to Smugglers Bay and out over the ocean, Smugglers Bay has a beautiful white sandy beach that is ideal for swimming in the summer months.
From the beach the walk takes you up through scrub land and winds up the moderate to hard climb to the top of the ridge line, here there are more fantastic views out accross the ocean and many of the out lying islands like the Hen & Chicken islands can be seen in the distance, the walk now loops back to a junction at the top of the ridge line here you can return back down to the top of Smugglers Bay or carry on around the Headland.
From the junction the walk descends down through a valley to the water line and a rocky beach can be accessed from the track, at low tide you are able to explore the coast line but beware of the incoming tide, the walk is easy from here and follows the coast around to the world war two gun emplacement that is located on the Northern side if the headland, from here you get a great view of the inner harbor and the beautiful Urquhart Bay, the walk continues around the bay back to the carpark, allow around 1.5 hrs return for this fantastic scenic walk.
