Rotary Walkway, Pakuranga - 6th Apr. 2007

Yesterday Nickname Pending and I headed east, to do the now completed Rotary Walkway that goes from Ohui-a-rangi (Pigeon Mountain) to the Rotary Reserve on the Pakuranga Highway opposite Pakuranga Plaza.

We parked on Galloway Crescent, by a little reserve at the back of Wakaaranga School, then walked down the road to one of the many pathways that join the walk. They are marked with these concrete stamps, which are also supposed to mark kilometres along the length of the walk itself, but seem to be placed somewhat irregularly.

We headed towards the Plaza first, although we didn't start right at the beginning of the walk. The pathway is largely concrete and wends its way pleasantly along the coast, with a few explanatory markers along the way. We walked up Wakaaranga Creek, which is covered in mangroves, spotting pukeko and grey herons along the way. A lot of the houses that back onto the creek pathway are rather flash, some with tennis courts and others with jetties that go out from the path. Once the creek meets the Tamaki River, you have a great view of Mt Wellington (my new nemesis now that Mt Eden is conquered) and the sandbar that forms part of the Tahuna Torea nature reserve. We walked past the Pakuranga Sailing Club and the reserve next to it. The tide was a long way out, as you can see from the pics, and it took us over an hour to get to the Pakuranga Plaza end of the walk. We turned around and came back, stopping in a bay to eat our packed lunch, and generally watched the windsurfers on the water and the families on the pathway. There were a lot of bikers, and they are supposed to give way to pedestrians. Most do.

Once we had walked all the way back to our starting point we headed further up the pathway towards Ohui-a-rangi and Pigeon Mountain Reserve. Manukau City Council has a plan to overhaul the reserve and has already done significant work on a wetlands area complete with boardwalk and many pukeko. It is wonderful spot even though it isn't complete yet.

I'd recommend if you do this walk give yourself about 2 and a half hours and start from one end or the other, not part way along like we did. It's pretty much flat and much of it could be done with a stroller too. It would also be a nice bike ride, particularly on a cold day, as the sun reflects off the water and parts of the walk that are sheltered from the wind were very warm, even on an autumn day.

Three tracks, Duder's Regional Park - 3rd Feb. 2007

Today Nickname Pending and I drove out eastwards to Duder's Regional Park, and this time it wasn't raining.

The park sits on a peninsula, with a historic pa site on the far end, and a whole lot of farm between the carpark (with helpful signs and map leaflets) and that headland.

We started out by heading left from the carpark, following the red markers of the Farm Loop. This involved some pretty unpleasant up within a few minutes, and it actually hurt to breathe. The views from the top of the ridge were great - the farmland to the south and south-west, the Hauraki Gulf to the north, tidal flats and wetlands to the east, and Duders Bay sweeping to the west.

We continued to follow the red markers through various fields on the ridge, some dotted with skittish ovines and one including the trig station.

Eventually we came to a post that also had blue markers, which indicated the Whakakaiwhara Pa Walk. Sadly at this point we went the wrong way and ended up not heading towards the end of the peninsula, but at the start of a coastal walk.

We decided to follow this for a while and see where it went. When the coastal walk petered out we kept going around the coast (luckily the tide was out) and eventually found a spot to clamber up and rejoin the Whakakaiwhara Pa Walk, almost at the headland itself.

There at the end of the peninsula, where once there were defensive trenches and kumara pits, was a lovely restful spot where you could gaze out at the Gulf, Waiheke Island, Ponui, Pakatoa and even Rangitoto in view.

And then, the best thing happened - what appeared to be a fishing boat turned out to be a full size waka, clearly on it's way to Okahu Bay for Waitangi Day on Tuesday. Fantastic to watch it at full steam, and we walked much of the way back along the ridge to rejoin the Farm Loop with their coordinating chants ringing in our ears.

Then we went through the cow paddock

and along part of the Farm Loop again, and followed the metal road back to the carpark. Which had another one of those previously controversial frames (just like at Cascades).

All up it took us 2 hours 45 minutes, despite the error, and with the now customary many photo stops. Good walking shoes are essential, and there is a lot of long grass. Also for the first time since walking at John O'Groats in Scotland in May I felt the need of insect repellent.

Wonderful, varied, views - a good place to take visitors to NZ if they are ok with uneven land and massive bovines.

(Pics added 8.45pm Sunday 4th Feb 2007)

Tauwhitokino Bay - 14th Oct. 2006

Today we ventured out east, way east, past Kawakawa Bay, to the walk from Waiti Bay to Tauwhitokino Bay and back. You drive to Kawakawa Bay on the Pacific Coast Highway, then keep heading along Kawakawa Bay Coast Road for quite some time. The drive itself is wonderful, but the walk is even better.

At Waiti Bay we parked the car and headed off to the southern end of the beach, then around the headland over the rocks. There's quite a lot of going around headlands via rocks, and it would pay to check the tide - we didn't and it was nearly high tide when we got back (and a higher than usual tide too) which meant getting a bit wet.

The walk isn't purely coastal though, there's also a section up and down a hill through bush, with a clearly laid out track that is largely stepped.

Ultimately, after several others gorgeous bays, as only NZ can do, we ended up at beautiful Tauwhitokino Bay, a long expanse of beautiful sand, with a few bright red jellyfish, and one lone beach fisher. There's a very basic camp ground there, basically just a non-bush area of ground with a sign saying no more than twenty people. It's got an ace drift wood swing though.

Unfortunately the camera stopped working early on, so at this stage I only have pics from Waiti Bay, one of gulls on the sand and the other of the beach itself, looking back from the rocks where you start heading around the coast.

If I ever work out how to retrieve pics off my phone there may be more added to this post.

All in all, a slightly challenging walk due to the hill and the rocks, I'd recommend walking sandals and shorts so there are no worries about splashing about a bit. Fantastic views of the Kawakawa coast and across to Coromandel. Plus we saw gulls, cormorants, kereru, a canada goose, and heard fantails. And of course there were sheep.

Updated, 19th Oct 2006 8.43pm: To add aforementioned pics from phone.

Above is the far end of Tauwhitokino Bay, complete with our footprints.

Walking through the bush under the ponga.

Stranded sand.

A (possibly ill) jellyfish.

The kind of view I wish the real camera had been working for. Coromandel is the low lying profile at the horizon. Sigh.

Three volcanoes - walks I prepared earlier

Last year I actually managed to walk up three of Auckland's volcanoes, so I can already tick off:

• Mt Roskill (cannot find out the Maori name) - surprisingly steep and you have to walk through the cows (and their pats) which is quite fun
• Mt Albert (aka Owairaka) - a bit dull, but had a nice picnic at the top
• Pigeon Mountain (aka Ohui-a-rangi) - quite small, I've always wanted to climb this one because of an historic association with OAR YMs which is based at the bottom of the hill.

I've also found a handy map of Auckland's volcanoes on the ARC site (and learnt how to spell volcanoes correctly as a result). Some of those listed are of course craters rather than hills, eg Lake Pupuke. I'm not sure how I'll tackle those as I know you can't walk around all of them due to private property on the lake/basin edges.