Twenty four people arrived by the 9am ferry to join leader Colin Bourke, as he lives on the island. The
weather was thankfully fine after recent heavy rains, and the 25 of us proceeded by bus to Rocky Bay
[Omiha] where several of the local residents were enjoying their regular weekend ritual of morning tea
at the Omiha Hall. We walked on to the Whakanewha Regional Park, by bush and beach, observing two dotterel
enjoying the winter sun.
After a snack and comfort stop, we walked via the Nikau, Tarata and
Mamaku tracks to a high point on the Trig Hill Rd reserve. There we had lunch and enjoyed splendid views
of the gulf from the Coromandel Peninsula to Great and Little Barrier Islands, Point Rodney, Whangaparaoa
and back to most of greater Auckland. Paul Ungemuth shared a short and fitting devotion on the beauty
of creation we are lucky and able to enjoy.
We carried on by road down to beautiful Onetangi beach
where many enjoyed coffee and refreshments at the beachside open air area of Charlies Restaurant. We
enjoyed a brief stroll by the beach before we returned by bus to the 3 and 4 pm ferries.
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