Party: Lesley, Elizabeth and Anna
Route: Ian Wells Track and Cutty Grass Track
Time: 3 hrs 15.min
Time constraints put the kibosh on more ambitious plans and so we did one of the tracks written about in Bob Harvey's 1998 book Untamed Coast. [Yes, it has taken me a while to get around to it, which means there is a risk of unforeseen change over the last 15 years] The traffic roaring down the road to Piha completely put us off doing a loop that would involve road walking and so we went out and back, past the Nihotupu Auxilliary Dam and along the very beautiful and atmospheric Ian Wells Track. The incline is very gradual and so although you cover a reasonable distance it is not too arduous. At the junction with Cutty Grass Track it was a toss up whether to go left or right. We chose the Anawhata direction purely because we had driven via Scenic Drive and it felt as though it might offer something different. Cutty Grass Track is pleasant but unspectacular, a wide clay track running beneath a line of power poles.
Attention to large round, red track markers on the Ian Wells Track reassured us we were on the right path, hard to miss, even though the track was labelled "Experienced trampers only". Who could possibly ever veer off the track? Cough, cough.
Owing to some confusion about which West Auckland roads lead where, we ended up, unintentionally, at Falls Cafe in Henderson for a post walk coffee and carrot cake. A pretty and pleasant spot to relax but not particularly remarkable for food or coffee.
