Auckland Baptist Tramping Club 2002 This tramp was originally to have been to Cox’s Creek in Herne Bay but as the leaders were unable to make up a decent 2-3 hour walk out of this they decided on a repeat of a trip one of the leaders took in May last year to Kaipatiki in Glenfield, but with a new section of coastal bush track that had not been opened at the time. 12 people, all but two female, came along. We started at the beginning of the Kaipatiki Track opposite Glenfield College about 2:15pm. On the footbridge at the start, out of the way of the traffic noise on Kaipatiki Rd, leader Eileen gave a very short devotion on God leading the way just as we are led on our trips before the usual prayer and introduction. The track followed downstream through the bush-covered Kaipatiki Reserve, which had been established a few years ago by a local group keen to turn the rubbishy wasteland alongside the stream into an ecological reserve. As a result the numbers of native fish in the stream have increased, and with control of pests there has been an increase in birdlife in the bush. Last year we had to come out onto Witheford Drive and roadbash to Manuka Reserve; this time we followed a pleasant bush track with views of the mangrove flats of Kaipatiki and Hellyers Creeks. This section of the track was still being built when we last did this trip. Our afternoon tea break was in Manuka Reserve at the end of Manuka Road overlooking Hellyers Creek with Hobsonville in the distance. Some of us tried the musical Exeloo, that played soft music as one’s business was done, and others had a go on the children’s playground. We continued along the coastal reserve northwards going through open grass before following more bush tracks. To keep on the coastal track and not inadvertently come out on the road too soon, we had to take a sharp left turn almost reversing our direction in two places. Eventually we came to an open grass reserve and crossed Lynn Road to enter the Lynn Reserve. This was a pleasant bush walk going upstream, with the summer music of the cicadas around us. The track climbed gradually then a little more steeply at the end to come out at the start of Morrigia Place. From there it was road bashing all the way back to the start, except for a final stretch of bush right at the end. COST: $2