A hot sunny day to mark the beginning of summer brought out fifteen people to tramp a perennial Club favourite, the Okura Bush Walkway between Silverdale and Long Bay. The Club had done this trip, or parts of it, about half a dozen times before over the years, and this was the second time that parts of the walkway were done as the end-of-year tramp - just two years ago we tramped through the privately-owned Weiti Station with its pine forest to come out at Dacre Cottage, then walk the Okura BushWalkway through to Haigs Access Rd at Redvale. This time we tramped the entire Okura Bush Walkway from Redvale to Stillwater over the hills, returning along the coast on the outgoing tide. We left The Bracken soon after 10am (it is normal for the end-of-year tramp to meet at 10am instead of the usual 8am) and met more people at the end of Haigs Access Rd at the start of the walkway. The first part of the track crossed a long footbridge before climbing up into the Okura Bush Scenic Reserve, then descending to follow the coastline of the wide Okura Creek. We could look out across to the northern end of the Long Bay Regional Park on the other side, a place the Club visited one Sunday afternoon about one-and-a-half years before. We then climbed up to skirt the edge of the pine-forested Weiti Station then drop down steeply to walk the long stretch of beach to Dacre Cottage, our lunch stop. This time we were able to obtain a key from the cottage’s owners, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, and have a look inside the tiny single-room cottage that was 150 years old. The interior was decked out with a fireplace, stove, kitchen wall unit, two beds and a bookcase with a large number of old books on the shelves.

The tide was right in and the weather was hot - but the beach was very shallow, only about knee deep, so nobody had a swim there. We were ablke to look out across to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, and in the distance Tiritiri Matangi Island visited by the Club just five months ago. Afterwards, we carried on towards Stillwater, climbing up to follow the clifftops before dropping down to the beach before the entrance to Weiti Creek. While the others had a quick rest John and Lin tried out the shallow waters for a swim - and it was lovely! We carried on through to Stillwater, hoping for an ice cream at the motor camp but we had to do with soft drinks as the only food served was hot meals. After a rest stop in the shade of the trees in the reserve opposite the camp, we set out for our return tramp, this time along the coast. The tide was going out, and as the beaches were very shallow we had no difficulty getting around all the way past Dacre Cottage and into the Okura Creek area before having to rejoin the bush track for the last hour or so of our walk.

There was time to make last-minute purchases at a supermarket before going on to Ted and Marge Owen’s home in Fairview Ave on the outskirts of Albany for our pot-luck end-of-year BBQ. As usual for the end-of-year BBQ, there were many people who turned up for the BBQ who were not on the tramp - and there were some people on the tramp who did not stay on for the BBQ.  It was the usual great time of socialising and fellowship and browsing the Club Album and people’s photo albums - including the Kilgours’ recent trip to England and Europe, and a trip to Nepal done earlier in the year by Barbara, Joy, June Sinclair and Jocelyn Trembath. The hosts provided a lovely setting - a home away from the suburbs with farm paddocks over the back fence and facing the setting sun. This was the second time the end-of-year BBQ was held chez Ted and Marge; the 1992 BBQ was held there after a tramp from Campbells Bay along the coast to Long Bay.