High Above the Mucky-Muck

New Year's Day 2012!  (NYE 2011 in the USA)
Our first NYE in Auckland...  We decided to stay in as the weather was a bit dreary, but there's no ball drop or apple drop or peach drop over here!!!  Everyone waits for the US to do their thing - very disconcerting!  We did get to see a TON of fireworks from our deck.  It seems like kiwis are a bunch of pyromaniacs!  Everyone had the good fireworks over here and were setting them off like crazy for about an hour after midnight - pretty cool.


Thinking - let's start this NY off right - right?  Let's be athletic!  Do some exercise!  Get outside and breathe this fresh kiwi air!  OMG....


We picked one of the tramping tracks (hiking trails) in the Waitakere Ranges to tackle today - well, let's say Lee picked it after doing some research on the best tracks.  The one he picked is down near one of our favorite sites so far - Whatipu.  Here's the description of the track he picked:

Omanawanui Track is regarded by many as one of the secret jewels in the treasure trove of tracks in the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park. Despite a few sections of steep going the track rewards walkers with its sparkling water views out over the Manukau Bar and its mixed canopy forest. 

Ok - let's clarify here - "a few sections of steep going" - check out the elevation graph below!!!  How about straight up and down where you have to crawl on all fours and hold onto a rope?!?  No kidding, the going was a bit treacherous at times. If this track was in the USA, there would be guard rails everywhere or it would only be an option for true mountaineers.  

it took ALL of the 2 1/4 hours

we're going up yonder!

We parked the Chancellor at the first area to access the Omanawanui Track at the beginning and set off on our journey.  Thinking, yeah, 2 1/4 hours, no way, not us...  We always finish way before the estimated time!  Ha - not this time!  Round trip is about 6km, but the elevation changes make the going pretty slow.  It took 2 1/4 hours to hike the track and about 45 minutes to hike back up Whatipu Rd to our car.

happy dog

We took our trusty pseudo-mountain goat, Li'l Ella, along for the tramp and she had a grand ol' time.

I can't even begin to describe how beautiful this hike was.  You start off kinda slow and get to see some spectacular coastline views.  Then, as you keep going, you come out along the tops of these ridges where you can see Manukau Harbour, the Tasman Sea, Waitakere valley, and waterfalls all over the place.  There were waterfalls you could see across the mountains and waterfalls going down the ridges into the sea.  Simply breathtaking...  We were up in the clouds for a lot of the trail.

we climbed up and over that ridge

panorama from top of omanawanui track

waterfall bay

The Omanawanui Track is part of what's known as the Hillary Trail.  After hiking this part of it, we've decided to take on the entire Hillary Trail and complete parts of it over the next year.  If you are really adventurous, it's possible to do it over several days camping along the way, but I think we'll enjoy it more doing it in sections during favorable weather conditions :)

at the end in whatipu

For those of you who come and visit, this is a must see/do hike if you are up to it and have the inclination.  It would be great to do it with two cars - one at the top and one at the bottom with a picnic on Whatipu beach at the end.

West Coast is the Best Coast

The weekend before Lee's birthday we went a bit further past Huia. You drive through Huia-proper, cross a stream which runs off of the Waitakeres and across the road (need Jeep).  After the stream the road turns into gravel all the way out to the Whatipu scientific reserve (NEED JEEP!). It's a somewhat treacherous ride that takes about 20 minutes on the gravel.....but once you get there the reserve is not to be missed. The beach is a neat little "Crescent". Take a left and have a look at the fishing dudes tossing line into the Manukau Harbour side of the pass which goes to the Tasman Sea. You can climb up a hill and get a brilliant view of the Tasman and Manukau all at once....Ella and Lee took a breather here...

Like with all the west coast beaches, we are always amazed at how private the beaches are - it really feels like you are on the other side of the world.

left end of crescent beach

and the right side..

view of entire crescent beach from the hill

....turn around and BAM, there is manukau harbour...

...as promised...fishing dudes...

some sort of science-fiction happening out in the reserve

li'l ella needed a break

panorama of the whatipu crescent beach

The day after Whatipu we went to check out Karekare. A lot of the westies we met have family out here. It's a very small community that sounds the alarm when the surf is up. We were told that you can tell when the surf is good from all the trousers in front yards! The boys drop them off and head to the beach in the middle of whatever they are doing leaving the women drinking NZ wine on the patios!

The beach is again impressive with high cliffs and an interesting walk through some muck and streams to get out there.  The stream is more like a river as you get back to the parking lot and you nearly have to swim across it after a nice rain.

A pleasant surprise was a waterfall just 10 mins from the parking lot. Stunning.

waterfall near karekare

karekare beach

Trip to Huia

We had a beautiful start to the day today and decided to go explore some of the beaches on Manukau Harbour and the cute little "town"of Huia (pronounce who-ee-yah -- we think).  The road to Huia goes through the Waitakere Ranges (Why-tack-er-ree) which is HUGE national park right in our backyard. The Waitakere ranges look like something from a movie set - huge peaks rising straight up from deep valleys covered in tree ferns and tropical foliage.

waitakere map

Along the road to Huia there are multiple bays and beaches to stop and check out.  One of the larger ones is Cornwallis Beach & Wharf.  The wharf has been recently restored and is the last of the existing ferry wharfs in Manukau Harbour.  There's no ferry service within the harbour any more, but tons of fishing to be had off the wharf.

The beaches in Manukau Harbour are very tidal and similar to bay-side beaches in Florida.  The sand is pretty sticky and you can sink over your ankles in some places or take a slide onto your behind if you're not careful!

cornwallis beach, manukau harbour

Getting over the ranges was a bit challenging for the Chancellor - especially loaded down with the two of us, Ella, and a backpack :)  Watching the speedometer drop from 70 kmh to 30 kmh as you are going up a hill and downshifting to 2nd gear can be a bit emasculating even for a female!

After Cornwallis and the hills, you come up to Huia Point.  It's a scenic lookout where you can see nearly all of Manukau Harbour out to the Tasman Sea and a beautiful view of Huia Bay.

huia point panoramic

huia bay

The little town of Huia consists of one general store that has a great cafe and is known for their fish & chips.  All the fish is fresh caught that day and it seems like everyone knows everyone there!  We opted to snack on some chips which are french fries.  You have to ask for "sauce" if you want ketchup.  The chips were awesome and the view of Huia bay from the store is breathtaking.  We sat outside on one of their picnic benches and just chilled for a while.

huia store