A wet and drizzly morning did not stop 21 people from showing up at the Cascades carpark at 9am ready
to tramp a route taking in Pukematakeo, the Waitakere Tramline, Waitakere Dam and part of the Montana
Heritage Trail. Included in this number were three students from AUT who were working on a promotional
DVD for the Club as an exercise for their production course.
After the usual intros and karakia
we set out up the road and onto the Pukematakeo Track, a steady climb up to the Pukematakeo summit. Just
before the summit some of us crossed the bridge that once carried vehicles returning to Scenic Drive
from the summit.
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We could see the Waitakere Dam from the summit, and there was Auckland in the distance bathed in
the liquid sunshine. The video crew filmed some of us doing a compass bearing activity.
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From there we walked down the original up-driveway, now a sealed walking track, to Scenic Drive for
a short roadbash.
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We followed a bush track down to the Waitakere Tramline, and were certain we heard the whistle of
a steam train as soon as we reached it.
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About ten minutes along the track we welcomed the shelter of the Picnic Flats for our morning tea
stop. Alison read a poem which illustrated the importance of taking time aside from our daily lives to
think and pray, just as Jesus did. We observed a time of silence before Phillip concluded the devotions
with a karakia.
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We carried on, walking through a tunnel to come out to views of the Waitakere Dam and the spectacular
waterfall below it. Further on we walked underneath a chute carrying a large volume of liquid sunshine.
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The end of the tramline is now blocked off as it is now believed that the cliff face below the dam
could collapse at any time. A long series of concrete steps brought us to the top of Waitakere Dam.
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We walked the new section of Fenceline Track, that has replaced the now-closed original section of
the track. This followed the coastline of the Waitakere Reservoir instead of going up the ridge, before
a steady climb to join the Robinson Ridge Track.
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Our lunch stop was in the bush off Long Ridge Track near the end of Robinson Ridge Track. We sang
Thank you Lord for giving us food before we ate. It soon became so cold that we were feeling it even
with woollies and raincoats on, and we were glad to be back on our feet again.
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The track down to the Cascade carpark, part of the Montana Heritage Trail, went through some
stands of kauri trees. Boardwalks had been made especially to protect the roots of these trees. Just
before the finish we had to negotiate a half-completed boardwalk. A Maori statue at the bottom marked
the start of the heritage trail.
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We were out at the carpark by 2:15pm. Laurie got his Ute Cafe going, although he had problems trying
to start the gas burner. Chris, in charge of the DVD production crew, got each one of us to sign a privacy
declaration allowing us to appear in the finished DVD. Laurie brought the trip to a conclusion with thankyous
to Stan for co-leading, the DVD crew, everyone for coming, and a karakia of thanks to God.
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