Thirty-three people, in two groups, set out to walk the eastern half of the Brynderwyn Walkway, a tramp the Club did two years before in July 1999. This time instead of cloudy and misty weather we had what turned out to be a glorious sunny day. About half the group left The Bracken soon after 8am to meet up with the others at the Skyline Tearooms on top of the Brynderwyn Hills soon after 10am. The leaders John and Bev gave us the choice of two groups - from the Waipu-Mangawhai road to Massey Rd with more uphill led by John, and Bev taking the tramp in reverse with more downhill. More people chose to go uphill - 19, compared with only 14 for the downhill! From the Massey Road end the track started as a vehicle track through pine forest. After about half an hour we came to the junction with the main Brynderwyn Walkway and this continued for a further half-hour to come to our lunch spot at the first of two trigs on our tramp. We had a panoramic view out to the coast and the Mangawhai area, and could also see Whangarei Heads and the Hen and Chickens to the north.

The walkway continued as a vehicle track to eventually come out to a couple of houses at the end of a country road. Just past the houses the track entered the bush as an undulating bush track, and it was at this point that the two groups passed each other and vehicle keys were swapped. Later there was a steep climb up to a well-deserved rest stop at the second trig. We again had an excellent view of the Mangawhai-Pakiri coast with Cape Rodney in the distance, and also Bream Bay-Ruakaka to the north. Beyond the second trig the track continued as a vehicle track gradually descending through open pasture and bush to eventually come to a couple of cellphone towers. In 1999 the group missed the track going into the bush on the left just past these towers and continued down the road to eventually come to the highway and had to face quite a bit of roadbashing to get to their cars; this time the track was clearly signposted. It was a long steep drop through manuka bush to a lovely little stream at the bottom, then a short walk across open paddocks brought us out to the highway at about 4pm where the cars were waiting. We returned to the Skyline Tearooms hoping for our mandatory icecreams only to find the place closed and the accessway blocked by a locked gate - and Rosemary’s car, which was not used to transport people to the tramp, trapped inside. Frantic attempts to raise the owners of the tearooms were unsuccessful, and Rosemary ended up getting a ride with the rest of us back to The Bracken where she arranged for her husband Geoff to pick her up. Rosemary and Geoff would be faced with having to go back to the tearooms next day to retrieve the car. We did not get away from Brynderwyn till after 5:30pm and did not get back to The Bracken till about 7:30pm. COST: $15