Titahi Bay, as the Rock Deluxe North guidebook delicately puts it, 'isn't on everyone's list of classic North Island cliffs'. But it has a history. Climbers have visited Titahi Bay since the 1930s, at least. In 1970, Graeme Dingle published one of the first rock climbing guidebooks, noting that it was long overdue, and hoping that 'a guide of this nature will help in making rock climbing more enjoyable, thus raising the general standard'.
Dingle did not shy away from Titahi Bay's less attractive traits: 'the rock here is not always reliable and protection often inadequate'. This is still true, but there are also well-protected routes on good rock, especially since bolts began to be used in the mid-1980s. Double bolt belays were installed at the top of most routes around 2005.
From Porirua, drive out to Titahi Bay and then Whitireia Park. From the park entrance, drive to the top of the hill and park by the foundations of an old building, on your left. Access tracks lead down the steep hillside to the beach.
