Seventeen trampers chose to spend a balmy summer weekend exploring the volcanic mountains of the Whangarei Heads - Saturday walking the five-hour Bream Head walkway, and Sunday climbing Mt Manaia. The tramp up Mt Manaia took longer than anticipated, so we cancelled a trip to the Waipu Caves allowing us to get home at a reasonable hour. We stayed at the Manaia Baptist Camp at Taurikura on the Whangarei Harbour foreshore, the same place the Club stayed at when they did the Bream Head track about twelve years before. But instead of staying at the main camp building, we stayed in the adjoining Jensen House, an old house that had been converted to bunkrooms, kitchen, bathroom and lounge. Friday - to Manaia Baptist Camp. We left The Bracken as usual sometime after 6:15pm to travel north in three cars plus the Club’s trailer, one carload going to Phillip’s home on the North Shore to transfer to Phillip’s van. Our munchie stop was at Wellsford, then on to Whangarei arriving at the camp about 10:30pm. Saturday - Bream Head Friday’s rain was giving way to clearer weather as we rose to greet the day. We were away by 8:30am for Woolshed Bay and the start of the Bream Head walkway, leaving one car at Ocean Beach to pick up the drivers after the tramp so they could bring their cars around to tramp’s end. The track started as a gentle climb through pasture to the ridge overlooking Smugglers Cove. We were in the rhythm of our walk and seeing the well-formed track carry on ahead towards the coast when our leaders signalled us to turn sharp left - and straight into the bush for a good long and steep grunt! It was a steep track, stepped in places, that brought us to the summit of Mt Lion, an hour in from the start, and our first rest stop. As we were perched on the rocky knoll looking out to the rest of the mountains of Bream Head with their rocky outcrops, Nelson commented on the amount of force that was needed to form these volcanic features. He then referred to some references in the Bible about rocks, especially the “rocks” in our lives. Each of us in our daily lives gets buffeted around by such things as sickness, family problems, accidents, etc. and we need a rock - God - to hold on to (Psalm 31:2-3). Psalm 46 tells about God as our refuge and strength. Deuteronomy 32:4 sums it up: He is the Rock. We sang several choruses about the Rock - Ascribe Greatness to our God the Rock; Hear my Cry, O Lord;  Rock of Ages; Praise the Name of Jesus.

We carried on down the other side of Mt Lion and along the ridge of Bream Head, anundulating track through bush with occasional lookouts and a few steep grunts, till we eventually came to the side track to Peach Cove. It was a good half hour drop down to the beach for a most welcome cool-off swim and lunch. Then it was back up to the main track again, which straddled an electric fence put in to stop large predators which, along with pairs of stoat and ferret traps set at regular intervals, was part of a DOC effort to preserve the wildlife in the Bream Head scenic reserve.

A short distance further on was a side track leading down to the Peach Cove carpark on the Ocean Beach Road. Four of us chose to go out that way to the beach while the rest of us treated ourselves to the grunts of the rest of the main track. We climbed up steeply and found ourselves going through a small natural tunnel in a huge rock face. A little further on was a large rocky outcrop, which several of us decided to scale. Back on the main track we carried along the ridge to come to the Bream Head peak, more rocky outcrops and fantastic lookouts over Ocean Beach to the north and the sea and coast to the south. Again some of us accepted the challenge of climbing these outcrops. We had to backtrack a very short distance to get on to the main track to drop down steadily to come out at Ocean Beach, through bush at first, then into open country with spectacular views of the coast in brilliant sunshine. It was about 4pm as we came out - and made a beeline for the shop at the end of Ocean Beach Road for well-deserved drinks and icecreams! Our cool-off swim had to wait till we were back at the camp, and it was very pleasant in the water on the shores of the camp property. Three or four of us swam to the little island just offshore from the beach. After a yummy dinner courtesy Carole and Lin, Lin took a few people to a jetty at Urquharts Bay for a spot of fishing as the twilight gradually gave way to darkness. Sunday - Mt Manaia Our sleep was disturbed about 2:15am by a barrage of foul language coming from somewhere outside our camp building. Apparently a drunken man who had been partying nearby had got into his car and had taken the wrong turning ended up in the carpark of the main camp building, then got out and started swearing at the top of his voice. All the menfolk got out of bed, and some went outside to investigate. The ladies, wakened by the commotion, chose to stay put and commit the whole incident to God. John D was able to maintain a long chat with the drunken fellow, keeping him away from our quarters, for over an hour until the police arrived. Threats of physical violence came to nothing, and the drunkard was taken away leaving us to carry on with our sleep. Many thanks to John D and his fortitude, and the other menfolk who ventured outside to support him, and most of all to God, for letting this whole demonic incident pass without any threat to our safety. We got up about 8am to brilliant sunshine. Phillip, despite getting up to help sort out the drunken incident, was up at six and ran all the way to Ocean Beach and back, a two hour return trip, as part of his training for a marathon in Rotorua. After breakfast we prepared our lunches, then packed up and cleaned the camp, loaded our luggage and headed for the carpark at the start of the Mt Manaia track just a few km away towards Whangarei. The bush track up Mt Manaia started with a gentle climb but soon became much steeper. After about an hour we came to a rocky lookout at the end of a side track with a panoramic view of the Whangarei Heads, with the harbour bays, Bream Head range and ocean beach. As we sat down for a break, Phillip handed out copies of an article by Bob Hostetler called 31 Ways to Praise. This is a list of scriptures, one for each day of the month, that he uses as “praise starters”. We each took turns in reading two of these aloud - the facets of God covered in these include: creator; the only God; almighty; everlasting; loving; just; faithful; merciful; refuge and fortress; patient and persevering; eternal Saviour; personal; generous; providing; shepherd; victory; peace; healing; comfort; working miracles; forgiving; bearing burdens; King of Kings; liberator; lifter of my head; light; joy; answering prayer; God of all the earth. Referring to a well-known brand of lemonade, Phillip concluded the time with Seven Ups - Wake Up (each day is a gift from God to rejoice in); Dress Up (add a smile to your face as an expression of your heart); Shut Up (say only nice things, learn to listen, we have one mouth and two ears); Stand Up (for what you believe in otherwise you will fall); Look Up (I can do all things... - Philippians 4:13); Reach Up (in hope to something higher); Lift Up (your prayers to God). We continued on climbing more gently, and after a further twenty minutes came to the summit area. The track finished on a rocky lookout accessed by wooden stairs, with a panoramic view out across the Whangarei harbour to Whangarei in the distance. The true summit loomed up ahead - it would involve a technical rock climb up a bare face, and as it is sacred to the Maori, the local tribes request that this never be attempted. A local fellow who had climbed the track on his own used our cameras to get a group photo with each person in it, a rare opportunity on a tramping trip. Mt Manaia is on the proposed Te Araroa trail that will eventually reach from Cape Reinga to Bluff. When Geoff Chapple did a reccie of the North Island section of the route in 1997, he did a live interview on Kim Hill’s morning programme on National Radio from this spot on Mt Manaia using two cellphones. On that occasion the weather was not as glorious as we had it; in fact clouds were being blown past in the wind. There was a choice of ways down Mt Manaia - the way we came, and a more direct track that was steeper and rougher. We decided not to take any chances as the leaders had not reccied the harder track, so we returned the same way, then drove on to McLeod Bay for a welcome swim in the shallow half-tide water and lunch. Our trip up Mt Manaia was longer than expected, so to allow us to get home in time to unwind and do household chores before bed a planned two-hour tramp on the Waipu Caves Walkway was canned. We set off homewards, stopping at Warkworth for afternoon tea at a cafe, and were back at The Bracken about 6pm, having enjoyed a lovely but sweaty summer weekend. COST: $50 (travel $27, food $10-50, accommodation $12)