South Head, Kaipara Harbour, 19 August

We set off 8.15 and it takes nearly 2 hours to get to Lake Otoroa, though that doesinclude the obligatory coffee & cake stop at Helensville. This is the largest lake on South Head and has recently been taken over by DOC (Dept. of Conservation). It’s immediately obvious that it’s a recent acquisition as there’s little info and the footpath seems to disappear almost before it’s started. So we’re following a tangled path over and under fallen tree trunks and struggling to find a way over treacherous terrain around the perimeter of the lake which is more or less visible through the kanuka trunks.



Lake Otoroa, through the kanuka trees
 

These arum lilies are growing all around Auckland, they're a native of South Africa

The internet info had mentioned gullies full of lilies and sure enough we found them in huge clumps, flower heads full of bees. They’re arum lilies, a creamy white glowing in the sunshine. However we decide to retreat, when the path becomes more trouble than it’s worth, and move on to the next destination: Mosquito Bay. We’d seen this bay from a boat trip on Kaipara Harbour that we did back in the Summer, and thought it would be worth a visit. However we hadn’t taken account of the tides and walked down a very steep track only to find it was high tide and we couldn’t really explore at all. We meet another English couple also out exploring for the w/e. No mosquitoes I’m happy to report. Kaipara Harbour is the largest natural harbour in North Island and at the beginning of the twentieth century would have been full of kauri logs, cut down from the forests and floated down rivers into the harbour ready for export.

Mosquito Bay and Kaipara Harbour with the tide in. Not much exploring to be done

 

A long walk back up the hill and we move onto the Waionui Lagoon, driving through a section of MOD land. It’s a long drive through pine forest and we’re right at the top of South Head. The lagoon is really an inlet with a long spit of sand on its far side, and as the tide’s going we can stroll along the water’s edge towards the harbour itself. Pine forest descends into dune then mangrove swamp but we manage to get quite a long way round until we come across a river. So the clump of pines we’d been aiming for turns out to be on an island and the river separating us is deep and fast moving so there’s no way we’re getting over there.


This is the clump of pines we're heading for which turns out to be an island

Here we find a man with his daughter cooking sausages for lunch. No other people for miles around, but they’re having a lovely time. He used to live round here as a boy. We continue our walk and head for a line of trees reckoning there’s probably a path back alongside it. Starts off OK but is getting a bit swampy, and before we know it we’re pretty much stuck in the middle of an enormous mangrove swamp. No path, just reeds underfoot between the mangrove bushes which are more or less water-logged.



Finally we get out of the swamp and back to the shore of the lagoon

Mike’s wearing shorts and getting scratched legs, and I’m worried about getting covered in mud, but the boots stay on and hold out and we eventually make it back to the water’s edge. There’s a lonely woman wandering in search of her lost dog, but we’ve not seen it in our travels: it’s probably stuck in the mangroves like we were. Finally back to the car and on our way home.

Raglan w/e, 11-12 August

We decide on the spur of the moment to do a trip to Raglan again. The weather’s not looking great but it would be good to get away, so we book a 1 night stay in the Bunkhouse through Book-a-bach. It’s a self-contained unit at the back of a rented house, within easy walking distance of the town, and only $100 a night. It’s rather a beautiful morning as we drive south on Highway 1 early on Saturday. We stop at the i-site by Huntly for coffee and bump into Peta and Jem who are off to Cambridge for the w/e. Small world. The Waikato River, just outside the cafe window, is huge, swollen, and fast moving, because of all the rain.

Rainbow over the Bridal  Veil Falls

 We don’t plan to get to Raglan till evening, but our first choice for walking is closed because it's the lambing season, so we begin with a visit to Bridal Veil Falls. A short walk through bush and down masses of steps to the foot of the 55 m. falls. The air is wet with spray and there’s a rainbow near the base of the falls, which should, in my opinion, be called Running Tap Falls rather than a Bridal Veil.

Skirting the river which flows out onto Ruapuke Beach

From here we head for Ruapuke, a lonely black sand beach down a winding gravel road through farmland. Shoes off and we walk down beside a stream to the beach and wander along till we find a tree trunk for our lunch spot. The sea’s wild down here with huge plumes of spray being blown off the tops of the waves. After lunch we walk to the northern end of the beach crossing streams as we go. Mike tends towards the edge of the water while I meander along the high tide mark, beach-combing. At the top end of the beach we see people surfing on huge waves dodging the rocks which are scattered about.



Black sand sticks to wet feet

 

Back in the car it’s beginning to rain as we approach Raglan, but we find our way to the Bunkhouse and settle in. Fairly good facilities here though we plan to eat out tonight at the Orca Restaurant which we’ve been to before. The food didn’t disappoint and we return to the Bunkhouse feeling very full indeed, to watch a bit of the Olympics before bed. Having a working TV is always an added bonus to our w/e's away.

It’s still drizzling a little in the morning when we go out to the Blacksand Cafe for breakfast, then back to pack up the car. We take a look at the local Raglan market which like so many markets over here is very good, selling lovely kauri chopping boards which we can never resist. How we're going to get them back to Oxford we haven't worked out yet. There are also knitted goods, jewellery, jams, chutneys, clothes, local wine and olive oil, and of course loads of different food.

We take a short walk in the small Wainui Reserve and manage to get lost. By the time we’ve found our way out the rain has stopped so we go on down to Ocean Beach. It’s yet another black sand beach backed by dunes; the tide’s out and the beach seems to go on forever. We walk almost to the Surf Club at the end then turn back again. The sun’s just breaking through the clouds causing a mist to rise from the wet sand which meets the low cloud in places creating a beautiful silver haze.
 

Silver haze over Ocean Beach, Raglan

 We’re feeling pretty warm by now as we pop back to Raglan Market for a veggie curry lunch then set off to the Waingaroa Hot Springs which are situated on a back road to Auckland. It’s a lovely drive through green hills and valleys to the Springs and the route is dotted with mimosa trees, now in full bloom creating bright yellow splashes along the way. The hot Springs are good and relaxing, shame about the cold showers, which I couldn’t face, so I end up smelling of sulphur all the way home.

Port Waikato and Limestone Downs

5 August
We drive south and west to Port Waikato for a second visit. Great cafe for coffee then we walk north up the great long beach towards the Waikato estuary at its top end. It’s a greyish day, with rain threatening, but certainly not bad enough to put us off. Before reaching the top of the beach we cut across to the edge of the Waikato River, finding our way through the black sand dunes. The river is very full and extremely wide at this point. There are piles of drift wood and other debris washed up at its edge, including massive tree trunks and chunks of pumice stone.



Looking back to the start of the walk, blue sky in this direction

Wind-blown black sand dunes

We’re now following the edge of the river towards the sea. We find a green island of plant life floating on the surface of the river beside us, which must have broken off from the shore at some point. Only one fisherman on the riverside, here more for the peace and quiet than the fishing he tells us. Weather’s building to the north, with huge black clouds bubbling up over Auckland, though so far no drops have fallen.

Amidst the debris at the edge of the Waikato River. Mike's holding up a large piece of pumice which floats downriver



Walking back along the beach, with storm clouds gathering behind us

 

Eventually we reach the point where the river meets the sea and we stop for lunch nestling against an ancient tree trunk, sheltering from the wind, watching a large flock of terns chattering to each other not far off. Then we continue our way back along the beach to the car park with black clouds billowing behind us. Back at the cafe for tea then a dash for the car as the drops are beginning to fall.



Limestone valley with 'Weathertops' rising above it

It’s not that late so we decide to explore the country further south, which is limestone and apparently used as the location for Weathertops in the Lord of the Rings films. The roads are tiny and twisting, deteriorating to gravel the further we go. It really is very impressive though we can’t see any footpaths signs. In the UK it would probably be National Trust managed and criss-crossed with footpaths but here it’s farm owned and fenced off so we can’t go off exploring at all. We drive through Limestone Downs which is marked on the map as a village but turns out to be a large farm.

We end up unexpectedly at the Nikau Caves and stop for tea. It’s owned and run by a friendly chatty couple, has a great cafe and accommodation. We’ve had our walk today and I don’t fancy the caves which involve crawling on hands and knees in places and are wet underfoot, but I’m sure we’ll be back sometime.

Piha Beach

28 July
We’ve walked a string of west coast, black sand beaches from Whatipu in the south to Muriwai in the north  but for some reason we’ve not been down to Piha, so today’s the day. We’ve switched our walking day to Saturday this w/e as the weather looks foul tomorrow, but today it’s a beautiful warm sunny Winter’s day as we drive north west over to Piha.

Stopping to look down over Piha Beach, with Lion Rock standing proud in the middle

Kitikiti Falls

We begin by doing a short walk along a stream, up to the Kitikiti waterfall, a pretty walk through bush which involves crossing a number of streams on stepping stones (a pet hate of mine as I’m not fond of slippery rocks). Back at the car park a lot more cars have arrived and we meet a man who tells us a documentary is being filmed here about the fairy myths of New Zealand. Shame we missed them: lots of children dressed up as fairies with a smoke machine for atmosphere.

The lagoon with Lion Rock behind. The zombie ducks begin to approach

We drive on down to park by a duck covered lagoon in front of Lion Rock and start booting up. Very gradually ducks begin making their way towards us from all directions, they’re obviously used to being fed. They make slow deliberate progress looking for all the world like duck zombies homing in on their pray. And they don’t stop coming, so eventually we have ducks all around us pecking at our boots and ankles.

Zombie Ducks pecking my boots

Leaving the zombie ducks we wander on down to the beach to climb Lion Rock which stands majestically in the middle of the beach close to the shore so it must be accessible at high tide too. Great views though it’s no longer possible to climb right to the top.

The river runs from the lagoon to the sea on the left of Lion Rock

View looking north along Piha Beach from (nearly) the top of Lion Rock. Our planned walk goes up onto the hills and out to the headland in the far distance

We’ve planned a circular walk which should take us from Beach Road up into the bush, onto the headland, along a ridge, and then down to return along the beach. It’s a combination of 3 or 4 named tracks and is quite well sign posted. Lovely cool bush along a stream to start with then we’re climbing quite steeply upwards and I’m finding it quite hard going. It’s muddy underfoot in places but eventually we get out onto a good path at the top from which there are views down to Piha. Then we’re walking steeply down an access road which leads to a couple of isolated houses below us, and we find a bench for lunch before continuing out onto the furthest point which looks down to Whites Bay one side and Piha on the other. We spend a while watching surfers below us being towed out by a jet boat to catch the waves back inshore. Saves them a lot of hard work I guess.

View from the headland down onto Whites Bay where the surfers were getting a lift on a jet boat

Hard to believe it's mid-Winter

Down the path to the beach and we walk back towards Lion Rock, watching the surfers. Lots of people on the beach now, almost like Summer. Back at the car the zombie ducks are attacking a couple of German girls.