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Published: January 10th 2013
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Being in and around the Waitakere ranges it was almost impossible to believe that the hustle and bustle of the city was only about 20 minutes away. For city dwelling Aucklanders, this must be an amazing thing to have on your doorstep for your weekends and spare time. The beaches are beautiful, the people are friendly and the amount bush and costal walks that can be done here is mindboggling. Another thing Piha seems to have in abundance is ducks. When Donna and I foolishly got out our table and chairs for breakfast due to the warm morning we were having, we were suddenly surrounded by about 30 ducks! Luckily we managed to persuade them to move along and go bother someone else, which it appears is exactly what they did. 2 minutes after they had left our table, a girl from the campervan next door to us came sprinting past chasing a duck who had what looked like a slice of toast with Marmite in its beak!! The angry girl told us that the duck had literally jumped on her to grab it out of her hands! Some of the other ducks coming up short decided to give us another
try and although they came out empty handed again, one of them managed to give Donna a scare when it nipped at Donna’s ankle bracelet believing it was a potential snack.
So, after our fun with the ducks and since we were here for another day and a half we thought it would be stupid to pass up what was on offer here and so we arranged to get in as many walks as we could. The beauty of this decision is that not only do we get to experience some amazing scenery but we would also get fit while we did it and of course, it was all free! Since we still had no jobs or any leads on one (I suppose it would help if we were actively looking as we should have been) free activities like walking are perfect for us and since South America, we have both really got into this tramping lark!
Our first walk was a small one called Mercer Bay loop which took in some great views of the coast and shoreline from high within the ranges. We used this as our warm up and after just 30 minutes or so
we were back in the van and making our way to our second walk. The KiteKite waterfall walk was next on the list and as the name suggests the highlight of this particular walk is the pretty waterfall about halfway in. Slightly longer at about an hour and a half, this walk also took in some great streams and some of the greenest bush I think we had ever seen. Finally we moved onto the White beach / Laird Thompson trail which took us from ground level to way up in the hills where the views down were incredible. It finished with some more great vistas of the beach below before taking you back onto Piha beach. Here you could see several caves that had been formed from the crashing surf which was pretty cool as well as a few small sand dunes that had formed due to the wind. Like a kid at Christmas I ran up and down the dunes whilst Donna humoured me and took some pictures!
Our last day in the Waitekere ranges was spent doing some more walking. We only did one real walk however it was well worth it. The Fairy falls walk
again consisted of some great bush walking involving some great waterfalls and also had the added bonus of having views over Auckland city centre. After finishing this walk, Donna and I headed back to the information centre that we had come to the day we arrived. This wasn’t to get more information however, this time we was there to spend the night! Yes, the information centre had a great deal where you could park up in their Car Park, use their toilet facilities and all for $5 each…..sold! So after parking up the van for the night we walked along one last small track in order to catch the sun setting before heading back to the car park for the night……Great days!
We were really glad that we had taken the advice of our friends Troy and Kylie to come here. The only way we could have enjoyed it in the Waitakere ranges more would have been to have their company. Still, we had an amazing time, but all good things come to an end, and after stopping here for three nights, the road beckoned us once more……
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Good to hear from you again...
New Zealand must be keeping you busy. I hope the job search goes well.