| Auckland Baptist Tramping Club |
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ROTOKOWHAI RIOT South Kaipara Head Sat 13 March |
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| For a fullsize picture click on the thumbnail |
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A little bit of rain at the beginning did not deter 21 trampers from having a good time exploring the
Rotokowhai Track and the South Kaipara Head coastline. We left The Bracken just after 8am and drove to
Parakai to rendezvous with some people coming from North Shore and West Auckland, then on to the Waionui
Inlet picnic area carpark at the northern end of the Woodhill forest. Our start was delayed about half an hour when one of the drivers realised about halfway between Parakai and Waionui Inlet that he had forgotten to tank up, and had to go all the way back to Helensville to the nearest petrol station. And just as well - there was a burst of heavy rain when the rest of us arrived at Waionui. It was still raining, but not so heavy, as we set out to climb through the pineforest to eventually come out to Waionui Road. Views looking down to the Waionui Inlet and the sand dune desert beyond used by the air force for bombing practice were spoilt by the weather, but we were able to look ahead to the central Kaipara Harbour basking in sunshine. We carried on northwards along the road, and after turning left into Lagoon Road we left the road and followed down a narrow stream gully then another wide track and a little pine-forest-bashing to reach the Waionui Inlet coast near Ti Tree Island, not a true island except at high tide. Raincoats were forgotten as we had our lunch on the northern edge of the island looking out across and up the Kaipara Harbour. In fact the heat of the sun reminded it was still summer really. Most of us opted afterwards to run down the steep ten-metre sand cliff to the coast below, ready to start our walk to the South Head. This was a pleasant beach walk, with some easy rocks at the end. We stopped at where the coast began to turn towards the south, then made our way back along the coast for an afternoon tea stop under a pohutukawa just before Ti Tree Island. Afterwards, we carried on along the coast of Waionui Inlet back to the carpark, finishing about 4pm. Some of us stopped for a well-deserved swim at Aquatic Park hot pools at Parakai. Joy, who had been badly hurt riding the hydroslide a year ago, put that behind her as she rode the shorter of the two slides twice! We had burgers, ice creams there before travelling back to Auckland, arriving at The Bracken about 7:30pm. COST: $9 travel; $10 hot pools |
