All 24 of us gathered at the Whatipu Car Park and set of in two groups of 12. David Walker led the first group and Marian Kilgour and Joy Whitehead the second.  We climbed up the fairly steep Gibson Track until we reached the view points looking out to the Tasman Sea across the infamous swamp area. We followed the track through toitoi, manuka and gorse until the descent to the Pararaha Shelter. On the steeper section of the descent we encountered a chain-assisted rock-face crossing which everyone coped with well. On arrival at the shelter we met up with the other group for lunch and devotions by David & Marian.

Refreshed we set out along the Pararaha Valley Track to encounter and wade cross the Pararaha stream, boardwalks to the sand dunes. The reeds and pools were home to several species of water birds and the reflections were quite fascinating and brought the cameras out in full force.  From here we followed the Hillary Trail markers northward for some distance before trekking out to the beach.

The beach trek was interesting as we watched the waves crashing onto the shore or wondered at the cliff faces which we had negotiated above in the morning. Towards the end of the beach hike we were watching out for the beacon on Paratutae Island when, rounding the dunes, we encountered a large body of water which we thought was caused by the high tide. We were quite mistaken. We were informed by the manager of the Whatipu Lodge that it had not existed before 29 February but a serious rain storm that day like he had never seen before had caused this lake of fresh water which after two weeks was still about knee-deep. After negotiating this natural phenomenon we arrived back at the car park to bid our adieus and set off for home.