Auckland Baptist Tramping Club 2003

A weekend away, this time close to home - Waiheke Island, part of Auckland City, yet “over seas” half an hour travel from downtown. 25 people enjoyed a sunny mid-winter weekend exploring the western end of the island, without the need of cars, staying overnight at the home of Colin and May at the Church Bay end of Oneroa. Saturday

We left Auckland on the 8:15am Fullers ferry, arriving at Matiatia just before 9am. We loaded our overnight baggage into Colin’s car to be taken up to the house, and about 9:30am when our hosts returned, we set off on the Matiatia/Owhanake Loop walkway. This started by following the coastal margin reserve around the northern headland of Matiatia Bay to a small cove. The track carried on through the Matietie Historic Reserve and around to Cable Bay, a nice little beach for our elevenses stop. We continued around to the large Owhanake Bay, climbing up then gradually descending to the foreshore. From Owhanake Bay the track cut across to Island Bay before climbing up to follow the clifftops. We came to a lookout where we had a good view of W Bay (Fossil Bay, or Double U Bay) as well as across the vineyards to Oneroa and beyond. The walkway dropped down through vineyards to come out at Korora Rd. It was a short roadbash to Oneroa and a cafetrological stop. Our lunch stop - chez Colin and May - was ten minutes walk further on. Three options were offered for the afternoon - (1) relax therapy, just stay put (2) retail therapy at Oneroa (3) exercise therapy on the Church Bay Circuit walkway. (1) got hardly any takers; (2) attracted quite a few trampers; (3) was the most popular option. A roadbash along Nick Johnstone Drive, with views looking out towards Motuihe Island and Auckland City in the distance with the distinctive Sky Tower, brought us to Church Bay and the coastal walkway to Matiatia. This walkway hosted an inaugural biennial sculpture exhibition in February this year; the new owners of two of the sculptures had decided to keep them on the track for the time being at least. One of these was Cytoplasm by Phil Price, close to the Te Miro Bay (south) end of the walkway. We had spectacular coastal views all the way around to Matiatia Bay. Once at Matiatia Bay we carried on through the Atawhai Whenua Forest and Bird reserve to Ocean View Rd thence to Oneroa for more cafeterology. Walking the same stretch of track twice in the same direction is not a normal feature of any day tramp, but it happened on this trip - the ten-minute roadbash from Oneroa shops to chez Colin and May. Our hosts put on a lovely roast dinner that evening, then quite a few of us went tramping once more, this time in our glad rags back into Oneroa to the Artworks theatre for a performance of Women by Fighting Fit Productions. This was the New Zealand premiere (it had already been performed in Spain) of a musical dance show about women keeping the home fires burning while the men went off to fight in World War II. They learn a new way of living and self-sufficiency, and the men return to a changed world. The dances were done to a selection of recorded music, including Now Is The Hour (at the beginning, not the end!), White Cliffs of Dover, You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To, Wedding March and Dionne Warwick singing I’ll Never Fall In Love Again - that song alone was good fodder for suppertime conversation back at the house afterwards.

Sunday