Auckland Baptist Tramping Club

Eight people came along to one of the Club’s perennial favourites, the Mangawhai Cliffs Walkway on the east coast of southern Northland. Five of us left The Bracken at 8am in one car to meet up with the remaining three people at Oteha Valley in Albany, when one of the passengers transferred to the other car to make two even car loads.  We arrived at the Mangawhai Heads carpark about 9:30am, and after the usual intros and karakia we set out along the beach northwards at low tide. There was plenty to see on the way - purple spring flowers in full bloom, the shelly nature of some of the sand. The beach gave way to easy-going rocky coastline. Eventually we came to a rocky arch. Just past the arch was our lunch spot, where the clifftop track meets the coast. Part of the track, including a flight of steps, had been washed away during the stormy winter. We were faced with a 30m steep scramble. At the top of this part we stopped for our devotions; where we had our lunch had became a bit too windy. Ali spoke about palm trees, sharing from an old Word For Today devotional about how these trees have a resilience that other trees do not have. Palm trees have deeper roots, can withstand tropical storms, and will regrow if cut to the ground. God is likened to the palm tree, He promises to give us the strength to endure the bad times, and to spill over into joy. In trouble we should pray What do you want me to learn? instead of  Why me? Phillip then led a short compass-bearing exercise where we had to work out bearings to identify the islands we could see offshore - these included the Hen and Chickens and Sail Rock. We had a grunt up a long series of staircases to the top. The reflection shared by Ali came back to us as we walked through a stretch of bush dominated by nikau palms. As we continued along the hilltops we had views of the coast below. The bush gave way to open pasture. We came to a seat that had been placed to commemorate the recent opening of this section of the walkway. The track climbed to a lookout that was worth missing out because of the strong cold southwest wind that had come up. From there it was a steady descent to rejoin the beach. On the beach was a large amount of black sand of the type found on the Waitakere west coastline.

We were out by 2pm, and we stopped for a coffee on the way home.

We arrived back in Auckland about 4:30pm having had a lovely and scenic springtime walk in fellowship. COST: $24 ($20 from Albany)