A lovely summer afternoon brought twenty trampers out to do the recently-created  Massey loop track (actually three existing tracks that had been upgraded to form a three-hour round trip). This started and finished at Hunua Falls and included Cosseys Creek gorge and Cosseys Dam. We set out from the falls carpark at 2:45pm, crossing the footbridge over the Wairoa Stream and heading a short distance northwards. We could look out across to the Presbyterian camp; within a few years this would not be possible as the farm paddocks have been planted with pine trees, and these grow rapidly. This is part of a country-wide trend to turn once-profitable sheep/dairy land into timber-producing forest farming. The prominent high hills seen behind the Presbyterian camp in the distance are also suffering the same fate. Soon we were crossing the Cosseys stream and after following the true right bank a short way upstream we found ourselves facing the toughest grunt of the whole trip, a series of steps up the side of the Cosseys gorge. The track was then more undulating as it followed along the northern side of the gorge - in one place we had a view of the stream in the rocks way below us. Eventually we saw the face of Cosseys Dam ahead, and a final short grunt brought us out to the access road just before the reservoir.

Our afternoon tea stop was at the start of the dam itself; this was where we had the best views of the reservoir. About a hundred yards further back, where the road first meets the reservoir, the trees beside the lake had grown and were beginning to block the view of the overflow hole part of the reservoir. As we were resting, a friend of Nelson’s appeared with his young children - apparently he was tramping the track the other direction, and he stopped to talk to Nelson. We then carried on across the dam and up the first part of the Cosseys Wairoa Track, a more gentle uphill compared to the first section of the tramp. After about fifteen minutes we came to a viewing platform giving a view of Cosseys Reservoir and the native bush and pine forest behind. There was a park ranger surveying the platform with the intention of making its fences higher. We arrived at the junction with Massey Track another fifteen minutes later and after a stop to group up we carried on down the Massey Track, a steady descent to eventually come back out to Hunua Falls. On the way down we had occasional glimpses towards Rangitoto Island and part of the Hunua valley. The first ones down came out just after 5:30pm, having completed the loop with rest stops in just under three hours. Some of us walked the two-minute track to the foot of the Hunua Falls and watched some brave young people swimming close to the waterfall itself. There were other people swimming in much safer sections of the stream between the falls pool and the footbridge. COST: $4