Kitekite Falls - Connect Track

Date: November 28 2014
Party: Anna, Elizabeth
Map: Kitekite Falls
Distance: 4.5km?
Elevation:
Time: A couple of hours?
Notes: Unbelievably, it was raining when we set off, and got worse as we headed into Piha. Stopping for coffee here to consider our options, we decided to do the Kitekite Falls rather than other, muddier walks...and watched from the cafe as the grey sky blued up and the sun came out. Anna performed a 5 point turn in the car park to get around the delivery man, and off down Glenesk Road we went. The falls are not too far up the track and they were stunning in the (sun)light. We carried on to Connect Track, which is pretty straightforward, had brunch (Anna experimenting with Nairns Oat Biccies and...dates?), and then took the slippery slope of a track back down to the car. Excellent.

Twin Peaks - Te Toiokawharu - Tom Thumb

Date: November 21, 2014
Party: Anna, Elizabeth, Lesley
Map:
Distance: 10.5?
Elevation:
Time: About 6 hours
Notes: Another training tramp for the Kepler in December. This is a track we have done before, commonly known as 'Not for the faint-hearted'. This is the one we do when we really need to put in a few hours on our feet. There are several things that make this a fabulous tramp, and several that make it 'character-building'. The scenery is fantastic, and despite the fact that there is no view from the top, this tramp includes the highest point in the Waitakeres. To reach it, you have to climb a gnarly, muddy succession of peaks, generously and misleadingly called 'Twin'. It's all about careful foot placement and enjoying the extra two kilograms you drag around on the soles of your boots. The beauty is the kauri called Tom Thumb. You sort of stumble into it - and it really is something else. No picture can do it justice in terms of its size (which is mighty) or its presence. Takeaway coffee at the Huia Beach Store & Cafe, which is charming, and the coffee hot, but the food indifferent. (Some of us had a little zzzzz after this walk).

Lone Kauri Road Loop (anti-clockwise): Buck Taylor Track - Pararaha Valley Track - Muir Track - Walker Ridge Track - Odlin timber Track

Date: 7 November 2014
Party: Anna, Debra, Lesley
Map:

Distance:10-11km
Elevation: up to approx. 270
Time: 5 hours
Notes: We did this tramp last year, in December, and it's lovely (and long). One of the great aspects of having spent so much time in the Waitakere area, is that you start to notice the seasonal changes more, and put together a sort of mental jigsaw of the place as you get to know more about what grows there and what it looks like in different phases. As we now know a wee bit about Taraire, we seem to see it everywhere (having largely ignored it), and now we have added kowhai into the mental bin, I think we will be much more aware of that too. We were surprised how few tuis and wood pigeons there were, until we came across a carpet of yellow flowers...and, of course, there were the birds.

This tramp is a circuit, incorporating part of the Pararaha Valley that we really like (except after rain). We walked down to our favourite swampy bit and sampled Anna's experimental Tararua Biscuits (we are staunch guinea pigs), which were perfect. I hope four days of just Tararua biscuits on the Kepler will not have her gnawing on not-biscuits. We thoughtfully introduced Debra to Waitakere mud, which she thoroughly enjoyed...there was yellow mud, brown mud, red mud, and even some cute little channels that tested your footwork. We had thought of everything. We were also delighted to see that she loved the staircases as much as we do, although one of our group was overheard talking about "enjoying the pain". It wasn't Debra. Or me.

Having finished the tramp, we retired to Henderson to find some hot cafes that Anna had in her Little Black Book, but were about half an hour too late. Unfortunately, we were forced to have light refreshments at Gloria Jeans, where there were several unbecoming incidents involving a refusal to rehydrate in this establishment and a disconcerting exercise demonstration. Enough said.

Tui song II

Tui song

Cascade Car Park - Anderson's Track - Fence Line Track - Auckland City Track - Cascade Car Park

Date: 31 October 2014
Party: Anna, Debra, Elizabeth, Lesley
Map: 

Distance: Anna forgot to turn iHike on (still mentally in Venice) - 9km?
Elevation: Lots
Time: 3.5 hours, with morning tea and lunch
Notes: A beautiful tramp, this. Really a bit of everything that is so wonderful about the Waitakeres. The kowhai were out, and there were tuis and wood pigeons galore. It had rained a lot during the week, so the dam was overflowing, and the waterways 'magicked' by Anna were real torrents rather than the trickles we have mostly seen. We even had to cross a river that was deeper than our ankles...what next?! Magnificent kauri trees, lots of rickers, plenty of parataniwha, nikau, ponga/punga ferns (does someone have a photo of that cute wee sprout?), stairs and a little bit of mud. Quintessential Waitakere experience. We dropped down the stairs below the dam to eat our lunch, with the tuis in the kowhai next to us having a fine time and the wood pigeons gliding through the valley below us. Check out the audio of the tuis cavorting around while we had morning tea.

Magic...

How did she do it?!

Lunch

Fat poser

Living on the edge

 

Traditional tramping finale