Monday 23 February 2015

Walk 05 - Tawharanui Regional Park

Apologies for the delay in this blog but the inevitable happened....I was left too tired to type on Sunday! And then, feeling like I had fully recovered on Monday night, sat down and.....fell asleep. Tawharanui Peninsula officially got me. But it wasn't just the hike, but the slightly misleading description of an "easy, rolling walk" that left me ill prepared for the mornings adventure.

In an effort to not go through all my Auckland based walks at once, I decided a little trip up North was in order over the weekend, so I picked Tawharanui which is a lovely 1 1/12 drive..well mostly lovely as the last 20 minutes is a very narrow, windy gravel road which my little city car struggled with, as did the little city driver. I'm still not sure what the proper response is when you approach a blind corner and a helpful, dented road sign indicates the lanes are about to become one, but I'm sure my sailors curse was incorrect, though it made me feel braver for but a moment.

My company was my very brave Mum who only 11 days earlier had been in hospital having surgery, but the idea of an "easy, rolling walk" had appealed and she was suffering a little cabin fever. So over the hills we zoomed, towards the park - a predator free sanctuary once again. Brown ducks and Pukeko poke about amongst the grazing sheep and the silence envelopes you and helps to erase the memory of the gravel lane you'd just barley survived.

 

It's a short drive to the car park by the beach where a bus from the surf school was leaking half dressed, tanned, athletic types which we politely nodded to before scurrying past before we blinded them with our paleness. I could write a whole blog on the toilet facilities at the beach, but I need to leave something to talk to my therapist about. All I shall say is that I never would have imagined that soap and a 'flush' function on the loo were luxury items.

Now I shall be very honest and confess that the reason our walk took such a dramatic turn and would, on reflection NOT be described as easy, is that I may have, by mistake and without meaning to, lead us the wrong way round the track. Though in my defence, a white marker looks an awful lot like an 'off' white marker and so with my trusting mother at my side we headed out and immediately encountered our first hill which took us up and out away from the beach and across the farmland.

With the memories of the toilet and the drive fading with each step we started to enjoy the surrounding views and the lovely noises chirping out of the trees. They were similar views to those from the walk around Shakespear Park - rolling hills and seascape but still enjoyable and the breeze along the hilltops were a relief.

 
 

The main challenge of the day were the hills...oh the hills! Four crazy, mean spirited hills. The first one as we set out was tough as we hadn't really warmed up, but the other three were super steep and the loose gravel under foot on the last two added an extra degree of difficulty which under the weight of the guilt I was carrying at subjecting Mum to them, made for a lung busting effort.

I tried to capture the degree of the climb, but without the sound effect of my tears it doesn't have as much impact..


Mum did exceptionally well and lead the way (though i was carrying all that guilt remember) and most of the complaining was coming from me, which may have also stemmed from the knowledge that I had taken us the wrong way (extra guilt anybody??) but at the top of the hills were some spectacular sights, I especially enjoyed the canopy of trees which seemed to have purple plants dotted through it.


As we came down off the final hill we were treated to a gorgeous bush walk where Bellbirds, Saddlebacks, Tuis and Wood Pigeons flew around us and the pain of the climbs were quickly forgotten. The paths were lined with beautiful old trees who's roots snuck out across the path. A stream wound it's way along beside us and the "easy, rolling walk" we were expecting, suddenly appeared.

 

The path finally looped back to where we had started at the beach, which was much busier than when we had left it. Families out enjoying the sunshine, blankets laid out under trees and surfers still enjoying the waves.


Definitely the toughest walk so far, but I know there will be tougher...much tougher...and yet as we sat under a tree at the end, enjoying our lunch, we felt good about what we'd achieved and being able to enjoy the bush at the end made it all worthwhile.

Now which "easy" walk shall I do next??

3 comments:

  1. Lovely pictures! The canopy of trees with the purple must have been beautiful. Despite the unexpected hills, you made it ! Well done! You will now be ready for walk 6 which, from the picture you posted, looks pretty tough! You are doing great! Well done!

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    1. The canopy was so lovely. It's nice to have rewards like that when you reach the top.

      I think Butlers Incline will be at least a month away. My calf muscles cramped up just reading about it ;)

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  2. Love to read you! Both funny and interesting as usual! :-D

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