Auckland Baptist Tramping Club 2005

Bird enthusiast Ted took a group of 11 people to the Tawharanui Regional Park, now an open bird sanctuary, east of Warkworth for a tramp that turned out to be somewhat cut short by cold blustery weather with a touch of rain - but as with all Club trips everyone had a good time. We met at the lagoon car park at the regional park at 10am, and set out along the South Coast Track, climbing up to the clifftops along the south side of the Tawharanui Peninsula. This track continued along an undulating course, with views out across to Kawau Island. We found ourselves donning our rain coats for a cold and blustery head wind. About 10:45am we found a reasonably sheltered spot for elevenses at the side of the track near the bottom of a dip close to the coast. A grunt brought us once more to the ridgetops, then we dropped down into a glade of bush out of the wind at the junction with Fishermans Track - but it was too early for lunch at 11:30am. We gradually climbed up again, then carried on out to Takatu Point, our intended lunch spot. But the blustery weather now with spits of rain forced just a brief stop at the lookout. We found a nice possy for lunch in the bush off the Takatu Point Lookout Track. Our return walk was along the North Coast Track along open pasture, the persistent spitting of rain did not stop views of Anchor Bay and the coastline beyond.

We came out to the Anchor Bay and roadbashed back to the carpark, finishing our tramp as early as 1:30pm. COST: $17