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Reports......Te
Henga Walkway
Date: 19/4/09
Leader: Steve Pocock
The promise of a real coffee at the end of our day from the mobile
coffee shop in the Bethell’s Beach carpark was an added bonus as we
prepared ourselves for our day’s tramping. The weather was perfect
for a tramp that was to take the nine of us over the coastal cliffs
from Bethell’s Beach to south of Muriwai Beach – high cloud, clear
views, just a slight cooling breeze, and although rain had been
forecast for the afternoon we knew that we would stay dry for the
day.
Steve opted to start off over the black sand beach in the hope of
seeing the blowhole operating but the tide was too low. However, we
passed lots of surfers walking back with their surfboards from
O’Neills Beach to the carpark (maybe they were coming in for
breakfast after a very early start). We left the beach and headed up
what Steve promised was our one and only hill for the day. The rest
of the day was to be over rolling country with spectacular views. We
stopped at the top of the hill to look down over the large land slip
to views of the rolling surfing waves coming into O’Neills Bay way
down below, and then over farmland behind us to the towering sand
dunes of Lake Wainamu which is a rare impounded lake formed by sand
damming the streams. From there it was downhill to the cliff top
point where we had morning tea looking out over the Tasman Sea.
Only the hardiest of plants grew on this track and were kept low by
the fierce winds that roar in from the west which was evidenced by
small trees growing sideways up the hill. This gave us amazing views
from every part of the track which was great for us but the track
would be very exposed in bad weather. Only a small group of hardy
pohutukawa trees we passed in the middle of the day managed to
resist the weather and grow to a reasonable size. We crossed one
area of track that had warning signs each end advising of caution
needed as we were proceeding over unstable ground – okay until you
pass over a narrow track through the middle of a slip where you
could see more cracks underfoot and you notice that it’s an awfully
long way down to the bottom of the cliff!
Lunch was spent at another cliff top point overlooking Bartrum Bay.
The track from here turned inland and went uphill to meet up with
Constable Road but our intention was to turn back after lunch and
return the same way we’d come. We spent a stressful half hour
watching two fishermen with two dogs fishing off a large flat rock
way down below. The rolling waves were coming in and crashing over
the rock and everyone was very concerned about the two dogs being
washed into the boiling surf and being pounded against the rocks.
(The men chose to be there so their safety was their problem it was
decided!) Fortunately there were no catastrophes while we watched
although the sight of a helicopter heading in that direction when we
were half way back was a cause for concern.
The return journey was back over the same track but we took the
overland route back to the carpark from above O’Neill’s Bay where
the surfers were out in full force (the tide was in so it would have
been a very wet journey for us over the sand). This took us back
past a well cared for vege garden in private grounds with the smell
of a barbecue wafting out towards us, then under the canopy of a
lovely area of bush and out to the paddock which ran alongside the
Waitakere River which we had to cross to get to the carpark. Two
opted to carry on down to the bridge to cross, and the rest of us
took the shorter route across the paddock and then waded through the
river to get to the carpark. The first ones to cross took off their
boots but the water wasn’t even ankle deep so the rest of us kept
our feet dry and crossed with our boots on.
This was a very memorable day and I’m so pleased I was there with my
trusty camera. The weather couldn’t have been better for us, we had
stunning views over the whole day and the coffee at the end was the
icing on the cake.
Adrienne
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