Another perennial Club favourite, Mt William in the Bombay hills, drew a total of 19 people to scale
it, this time from the harder Pokeno end with its grunts and lovely native bush. At least one person
training for harder trips carried a full pack.
We left The Bracken at the earlier time of 1pm
so that we could complete the tramp well before sunset (approx 6:15pm) and started at the Irish Rd end
off State Highway 2 near Pokeno. From the carpark the track gradually climbed through farm paddocks to
reach the bushline.
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We then entered the bush, continuing our uphill walk to come out to open pasture once more for a
welcome break with an outlook.
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The rest of the steady climb to the summit was through farmed land.
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At the top we enjoyed a 360-degree panoramic view north to Auckland, west towards Port Waikato, south
to the Waikato basin and east towards the Hunua Ranges.
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We returned the same way to the bushline, then took a different route through to the kauri grove.
Before we entered the bush we stopped to listen to Joy read a poem from Aotearoa Psalms by Joy Cowley
being a modernised version of the Palm Sunday story in which Jesus rides into town in a humble manner
wearing bikie gear while the rest of the crowd was waiting for a glorious king-like coming of the Messiah.
This was to warn us not to be too judgemental. Barbara commented that King Solomon also rode a donkey,
and Paul said that Jesus chose a donkey rather than a horse or other commonly used animal.
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The track through the bush led to a lovely grove of kauri trees.
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We dropped down to rejoin the original track at the lower edge of the bush, then returned to
the carpark to finish a lovely afternoon’s tramping.
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Of course we needed to follow a Club tradition at the ice-cream shop at Pokeno.
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As we drove back to Auckland afterwards we enjoyed a lovely sunset and the full moon coming out in
the eastern sky.
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Eleven of the group went on to the home of Barbara in Pakuranga for a dinner of pizzas followed
by a devotional time on the Palm Sunday theme as an official ABTC 1846 home group meeting.
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It was a few days away to Carole’s birthday so we gave her a cake and sang Hey There Carole
Girl to the tune of the well known Seekers song sometimes played on Coast.
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