A weather forecast of rain that came true at midday did not deter ten people from exploring the Maungamaungaroa
reserve on the southeastern outskirts of Howick. Half the group left The Bracken soon after 1:30pm and
joined up with the rest at the carpark on Somerville Rd as the liquid sunshine gave way to dry sunshine.
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Some new tracks had been opened at the reserve since the Club last went there two years ago, and
our intention was to explore them. The first one was the Rotary Track that dropped down to follow the
Maungamaungaroa Creek, lovely with the tide in.
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This soon climbed back up to the car park. We had to go down again and this time take the left-hand
turn instead of the right-hand one, and this dropped down to follow the creek downstream. The track eventually
climbed up to join up with the original track at the edge of the open pasture. We followed the original
track as it dropped down to the creek and onto a short boardwalk section extending out over the water.
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We carried on along the bush-clad banks of Maungamaungaroa Creek following the well-formed track
to come out at Shelly Park Beach.
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We had our afternoon tea stop on the foreshore at Shelly Park.
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Our way back to the carpark was along the original track, retracing our footsteps back up to the
edge of the pasture. We went over a stile and walked up to a sheltered lookout overlooking the creek.
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From there it was a short walk past a trig and back to the carpark. Some of us were apprehensive
about some cows, especially one steer that appeared to show some interest in someone’s pack or clothing,
and climbed over the fence to follow Somerville Rd the last hundred meters to the cars. We were out at
4:30pm.
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Our cafe stop afterwards was at a latte clinic in Picton St near Selwyn Rd.
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