Auckland Baptist Tramping Club AWHITU AWAY South Manukau Head       Sat 14 Nov A walk along the west coast ocean foreshore with a grunt to finish off was the order of the day for 24 trampers exploring the South Manukau Heads area. We left The Bracken shortly after 8pm to travel to Waiuku for a rendezvous, then on to Hamilton’s Gap, our starting point. All the cars were driven to the Manukau Heads signal station, the end of our tramp, with one car coming back with all the drivers. The 3½ hour walk along the straight coastline was a mixture of rock scrambling and beach travel, with the Whatipu end of the Waitakere Ranges ahead in the distance. In places there was no option but to wade around large rocks with having to carefully time it to avoid the breakers - one or two people got wet up to chest level! At 11am. we stopped for elevenses before carrying on to our lunch stop just before a very formidable rock which appeared too large to climb over and too deep to wade around. Most of us chose to wade around - the tide was at its lowest and we were able to get away with knee-deep water. A few did manage to scramble over the rock - easier down the other side. We followed on as the coastline curved around into the Manukau Harbour entrance. We could look across to Whatipu and Huia. Once around, there was the last part of the tramp - a long steep grunt through grass and scrub to come out at the signal station and carpark. Before we left we went up to the viewing platform to admire the view of the Manukau Harbour entrance with the breakers of the Manukau bar and the sandflats of Whatipu, and in the other direction across to Auckland in the distance. It was about 3pm when we   left the carpark to go home, stopping for icecreams at Whatipu. COST: $10