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.
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