Huia Dam Car Park - Panto Track - Parau Track - Kakamatua Ridge Track - Farley Track

Date: 24 April 2015
Party: Anna, Elizabeth, Lesley
Map: http://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap/trck36729/Kakamatua%20Ridge%20Track/Auckland
Distance: 11km
Elevation: ?
Time:3.75 hours
Notes: Kauri die-back has had a big impact on the tracks we are able to visit in the Waitakeres, and their closure looks set to continue indefinitely, despite there being no real proof that keeping walkers off the tracks makes any difference to the rate of infection. A ranger Elizabeth spoke to a couple of months back also nixed the idea that the infection is spread by pigs rooting around the trees. Spraying our boots has become such a part of our Waitakere experience...it hardly seems like a strange thing to see and do in the middle of the bush. So here is Anna, in her own inimitable way, spraying the soles of her boots in the vain hope that we might not traipse kauri die-back throughout the Waitaks....

We also managed to come across a 'courting couple' (shall-we-say) who had tramped into the bush for quite some distance for a bit of privacy, only to have the three of us nearly spring them. Oops. Off-track next time puhleeze.

Rickers and Rookies

Rangitoto Wharf - Kidney Fern Glen - McKenzie Bay - Summit - Summit Road to Yankee Wharf - Coastal Track - Rangitoto Wharf

Date: February 27, 2015

Party: Anna, Elizabeth, Lesley

Map: http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/parks-and-recreation/places-to-visit/auckland/rangitoto-map.pdf

Distance: ?

Elevation:259m

Time: 5 hours, including trip to McKenzie Bay, and Yankee Wharf

Notes: We met up at our usual 8.15am outside E's and were able to take a car and park it in the central city, thinking we had plenty of time to catch the 9.15 ferry. Err, no. The heavy morning traffic meant we arrived in town about 8.50 and had a bit of a dash to boot-up and get to the Ferry Building. Once there, one of our party displayed an extraordinary ability (unknown prior to this trip) of slipping to the front of any queue and quietly finding the best seats on the boat. A trick she repeated on the way back! Talk about missing her calling as a Silent Assassin. Another perfect Friday (I would like to see some stats on Friday's weather), calm sea, and a great view of the Queen Elizabeth passenger liner parked up at the quay as we sailed off across the harbour. There were are least two school groups on board, but given the Silent Assassin's skills, I had no doubt that we would be off and up that hill before any of them so much as shouted for a hair-straightener. And so we were. The kidney fern glen was more of a failed dialysis experiment, with the hot weather having fried them crispy. On to McKenzie Bay, where we briefly considered a swim, but ate morning tea instead. A moored yacht and then a clutch of kayakers entering the bay had us back on our feet and into the dust and heat. It was HOT. We walked mainly on the road, which is not much fun. Before the summit is reached there is a long stretch of boardwalk steps, with a fantastic view from about halfway of Waiheke, Great Barrier, Little Barrier etc. Arriving at the summit, we found almost half of Auckland's schoolchildren sitting there eating their apples and sandwiches, so we did a circuit, took some panoramas of the AMAZING city and island scape at the top, and decided to leg it back down to the other side of the Island. At this stage we became aware of a little gathering cloud. We almost had one of our famous wrong turns, after enjoying a beautiful stretch of 'forest', but managed to self-correct in time to head in the direction of Islington Bay on yet another dusty, hot road. As we sat at Yankee Wharf watching a car ferry board passengers and then leave, the gathering clouds became even darker, and a strange rumbling was heard. A plane? Thunder? We ate our lunch, decided we would not be in time for the 2.30 ferry, and set off past the barrier (what was that for?) along the scoria track. The clouds darkened, and the thunder became persistent. A few drops fell. Raincoats were unrolled. A gentle shower of rain fell. We could see that the clouds meant business somewhere, but not here. Anna's notes suggested that there would be a half hour of scoria track and an hour in the 'forest'. On we went over the scoria, passing the lava fields. We saw a saddleback and a parrot, but 'forest' was a stretch. Part of the track must be slightly under water at high tide (luckily avoided), and the 'swimming pool' had water in it, although was not very tempting. We walked past the remaining old baches which are totally charming, and back to the 'tourist shelter' (which is huge), and the wharf. Elizabeth had a chat with an Iwi member who gave her all the goss on Rangitoto, and we split a celebratory beer on board the ferry home after the SA found us primo seats. An interesting trip, with stunning views at the top, but best attempted in cooler weather. And there had been a deluge of Biblical proportions in Auckland. A few wet Jafas.


*Forgot to mention the poppies! More info here. We each popped on a poppy.

Queen Elizabeth

Silent Assassin and friend

Crater behind the 2 lovelies

Spot the Harbour Bridge

Yankee Wharf

Swimming Pool

Browns Island

Glen Esk Car Park - Kitekite Falls - Connect Track - Winstone Track - Kauri Grove Track - Marguerite Track - Home Track - Car Park

Date: 20 February 2015
Party: Anna, Elizabeth, Lesley
Map: 

Distance: 8.2 km
Elevation: Not much
Time: 3h and 10min dawdle (still getting back into it)
Notes: Anna was feeling uninspired this week (what with the house on the market and rubbishtruck drivers to contend with) so we redid this walk of ages ago. It's a pleasant enough walk, especially at the start where there are lots of kauri (apparently the only vegetation not cleared off the land at one stage) and the Kitekite falls, but is pretty much a rugged, canopied bush walk without stunning views. Still, not too many streams to cross, only a bit of mud, and a couple of ok spots for a snack. Not too much up, and not too much down. We adjourned to Elevation, a restaurant we have driven past many times before and thought we would try this time round. Don't be tempted. The view from the balcony is brilliant, but your wedding deserves so much more.

Piha - Pararaha Valley - Via the Swamp - Along the Beach

Date: February 13, 2015
Party: Anna, Elizabeth, Lesley
Map:
Distance:
Elevation:
Time:
Notes: One of our favourite walks, as it includes the Pararaha Valley, The Swamp AND a tunnel, but I swear that walk through the sand was not there last time.

The Kepler (Part 1)

Date: December 8-11 2014
Party:Anna, Elizabeth, Peter, Lesley, Tony, Rohit, Debra, James, Chris, Andrea, Gavin, Jeremy, Christine, Brett
Map: http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/southland/kepler-track-brochure.pdf
Distance: 60 km
Time: 4 days, 3 nights

Notes: What a fabulous trip! We flew down to Queenstown on Sunday the 7th (on an horrendously early flight), and while some of us waited at the airport drinking coffee, others shopped, or took the bus into Queenstown. We had just under two hours to wait before the Tracknet bus turned up, and we jammed our substantial gear into its trailer and headed off to Te Anau. We were lucky enough to have a small mini-bus, so it was a cosy drive, stopping at Mossburn for venison pies and hand cream testing. We had a very brief stop at the Distinction Hotel in Te Anau to check into our rooms and drop off our gear before we boarded a boat to the Te Anau Glow Worm Caves. The boat trip across to Brod Bay was in clear weather, with great views of mountain peaks and the Kepler locale. 

We were unable to take pictures in the caves, and found them a little disappointing glow-worm-wise, but loved the actual cave complex with its waterfall and underground river. The little boat trip was cute, but all of us had memories of a cavernous Waitomo Caves glittering with glow-worms (which may be just our imaginations) which was not our experience here. We could also have done without the lecture before-hand and the geriatric cup of tea! The most surprising thing I learned about glow-worms is that they are...worms of a kind (I know, what a shock!)...and I was fascinated by the videos of them threatening their cave-mates, and gobbling up moths. They are no longer the cutsey-wutsey glow bugs of my childhood. Psychokillers. 

Anyway, we had dinner to attend. Elizabeth and Anna had tried to book the one that Tony recommended from a previous visit, but after 5 bottles of chianti, he was not very focused on remembering the name of the place. Elizabeth took a punt and booked us into Ristorante Pizzeria Da' Toni (based on the name, of course, and even though it was the wrong one, it was the right one). After a drink at The Ranch Cafe Bar and Grill, we wandered across the road to the restaurant and ate our own bodyweights in pizza and meatballs. We were joined at dinner by Christine and Brett who had taken the civilized flight/bus later in the day.

Monday 8th December: Depending on how you were feeling after the red wine of the night before and whether you needed a long breakfast, you could take a boat any time from 8.30 across to Brod Bay and the start of the track. Several of us were keen and set off into a grey old day.

Hair swinger

'From Brod Bay the track climbs steadily for about two hours to limestone bluffs – an ideal lunch stop. After another hour’s climb the bush line is reached, providing panoramic views of the Te Anau Basin, Takitimu Mountains, and the Snowdon and Earl Mountains. Luxmore Hut (1085 m) is about a 45 minute walk from the bush line.' Yes, can vouch for all of this. It was quite a slog up that hill.

Looking back to Te Anau

Limestone bluffs

Breaking out into the 'tops'

Hidden lakes

Unbeatable

Mt Luxmore Hut

Track leading to hut

Bad Boy Kea

As this part of the walk only took us about 2 hours 40, we decided to stroll to the caves. Once we were there, it was pretty slippery and very dark, but the limestone formations were impressive. We only went in about 70m or so, and that seems to have been the best part. The hills in this area are full of caves - we saw a couple of others on the way back and having gone to the Glow worm Caves, had been made aware of the full extent of the Aurora Cave System along the edge of the lake. Huge. Lots of tiny, interesting flowers and curly tussock!

The DOC ranger at Mt Luxmore Hut, Peter Jackson (really...and HE is another story entirely), suggested we all go up Mt Luxmore that same day as the weather next day was going to be dodgy. Five of us headed up, thinking it would be a quick up and back. Errr, no. Took about 2 and a half hours to the summit and back, but what amazing views...and (yes, I asked for it - snow!):

Tuesday 9th December: 'The track climbs gradually from the hut to a ridge just below the summit of Mount Luxmore. A 10 minute side trip to the summit (1472 m) provides stunning panoramic views in fine weather. The track then descends to a shelter close to Forest Burn Saddle, where there is a small day shelter and toilet.

Beware of wind gusts when crossing the saddle. Indeed.

The track sidles, climbs and follows a ridge system for about two hours to Hanging Valley Shelter. It then follows a long, open ridge toward the Iris Burn and descends through a series of zigzags into a hanging valley. The track winds its way through beautiful forest, with good views of a large natural landslide.

The Iris Burn Hut (497 m) is sited in a large tussock clearing. From Iris Burn Hut, a 20 minute stroll leads to Iris Burn Waterfall.'

This was the highlight of the track for me. We could see it was a far windier day, and waited till the tardy ranger gave us a weather update before we left (he was very busy doing his yoga exercises). It was incredibly windy all the way along the track, until we started the descent through the bush. It was too windy to climb Mt Luxmore, and really was a case of 'wide walking' and hanging on through the wind and drizzle. We still had pretty clear views, which was lucky, and watching groups walk along the ridges with the mountains behind them was spectacular. The shelters were very welcome as a break from the wind in your ears all the time, but generally it was exhilarating. Not many photos of this section as my phone was too cold and had a tantrum.

Forest Burn shelter

Debra and James head off

Majestic

Sadly, we had to leave the tops and head down into the forest, a maddening zig-zag of a track that was about an hour the wrong side of fun. We DID see a mountain daisy, and lots of moss hanging from the trees. There were a couple of impressive slips too. We were quite happy to arrive at Iris Burn Hut, with the prospect of a nice waterfall to walk to and a 'refreshing' dip. The water was blood-hardening freezing but you left that pool of water with a spring in your step and smelling fancy. We saw a massive shag, and blue ducks, and loved the unbelievably clear water in the river. The waterfall was impressive, too, with an unlikely volume of water flowing through it - it was almost turbulent at the bottom (although that didn't stop Rohit!). It rained the next day:

Tony had a helicopter to catch, so we all hung around waiting to see him whisked off...unfortunately there was a miscommunication between all parties and he was forced to go back to the Hut (after being told to wait 500m away in a clearing) so he enjoyed some speed walking with the embarrassed Ranger. We, meanwhile, carried on our merry way, enjoying the reasonably flat terrain, the mosses, the birds, the little flowers, the peat bogs etc. etc. 

The clearing