Walks 2 and 3 over the long weekend

It was a long weekend here in NZ with Waitangi Day on Friday which is a day held to remember/celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.

With the extra day off and the upcoming week being quite a busy one, it was my goal to tick off two walks over the three day period. With the day between being a zoo day as well, the weekend became Operation 'Knackered Eileen'.

As had happened with the week before, I awoke to the sweet, sweet sound of....rain! I'm not sure what I've done to anger Mother Nature but if someone could let me know the correct number of goats I need to sacrifice in order to appease her that would be great. Now rain in general doesn't bother me, but for walk #2 around Shakespear Park (not named after the Bard) I was being joined by a group of friends, some of whom were bringing their small children and the thought of them getting wet and cold didn't sit well with me. So after much messaging back and forth and with the skies getting greyer I headed out of Auckland resigned to the fact that I would probably be hiking alone. But it seems I need to have a little bit more faith in people as every one of them arrived, with their kids wrapped up against the elements, all happy and ready for an adventure. I was quite overwhelmed and very grateful, for as with the Tiri hike, having company is far far better than walking alone. So our group of 11 adults and 9 children headed into the park.

Shakespear Park is another predator free sanctuary about an hour North of Auckland. You enter through a very Jurassic-Parky fence and along the walk there are many gate stations where you scrub down your shoes with a special formula to help reduce Kauri dieback which is a fungus killing off the Kauri trees.

The hike starts as a gentle stroll through the bush with a lovely little waterfall about 15 minutes in. It's very peaceful and you cross some small streams as you continue along.

The majority of the walk though takes you across paddocks and up across the cliffs over Te Haruhi Bay. At one point we were amongst a friendly group of sheep, but mostly we were just amongst their poop.

 

We got very lucky with the weather (again) but once we reached the top of the hill we were hit by a fierce wind which was an interesting extra obstacle. Hills are hard enough without a gale force hitting you in the face thank you very much.

 

Wind is a tricky thing to photograph but you can see the grass in the shot above whipping back and this was on our way down and our of it! I'm pretty sure we had the same number of little legs we started with....

The walk was shorter than last weeks though it felt much tougher. The hills and the wind were a struggle (I'm talking of course for myself, not my experienced and much fitter gang of friends) and I felt a different sense of accomplishment at the end of it. With the different terrains and challenges it felt like a more complete hike and it was really good to tick it off the list. My friends are all rock stars for making such an effort and coming along with me. We ended the day with a lovely picnic by the beach watching the wind surfers enjoy the elements.

 

One souvenir I wish I hadn't taken away with me is a very painful sunburn across my forehead. Kids if you're going to turn your cap backwards to combat the wind, make sure there's suntan lotion on there because otherwise you too will end up with the nickname Stripey.

This morning's walk was much shorter and easier. A quick little city walk which promised flat paths and shore birds, neither of which was true. I have to accept that not all these walks are going to have breathtaking vistas or much of a sense of adventure and the Te Atatu Peninsula was one of these...I don't want to say boring...but boring ones. My mum Maree joined me, mainly because I'd promised flat paths and shore birds and as we hit the first hill I avoided eye contact. To be honest the hills are small and hardly steep but I did have some guilt.

We had envisioned a coastal path with ample views of the city and an abundance of bird life. Not that I'm saying the four ducks we spotted weren't lovely but not quite the experience we had hoped for.

The view of the city from the car park was nice, but from there you head inland and 90% of the walk is behind marsh and trees separating you from the coastline. We did pass a couple of storm-water ponds which is where we saw all those ducks.

 

 

For history fans you pass the site of  ' McCormick Cottage' which was originally built in 1880. There is now a platform where the cottage used to stand to give you an idea of the floor plan and size. Of course the view would have been a little different back then....who knows there may have even been shore birds ;)

 

Although there weren't many birds on display and to be fair there's no requirement that any animals be on display for me, we did see some lovely butterfly's and a few webs from the Nursery Web Spider which I'm glad I Googled after our walk because otherwise all the photos from today would have been taken from inside the car.

 

Once we returned to the car we were treated to the DC3 doing a loop of the city and we grabbed a quick selfie (which I'm useless at) before heading home. Note the lovely white stripe...my souvenir from Friday.

Don't forget your sunscreen folks! Stripey out.

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