Bream Head / Te Whara Track

---

Finally the weather became really good, so Lie Wei, Lie Yee and Jie Min decide to attempt the supposedly gruelling Bream Head/Te Whara track which is said to take 10 hours roundtrip according to the NZ Department of Conservation (DOC). The distance one-way was 7.5km.

http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/northland/whangarei-area/bream-head-te-whara-track/

The night before the hike, we did plenty of research and preparation as the DOC website said we need to have reasonable skill and fitness. Since it was going to be such a long hike, I made sure I prepared plenty of food, water as well as gear to cover for any weather conditions, e.g. waterproof jacket, headlamp, GPS watch. I even drew a copy of the map outlining the trail we were to take from the DOC website.

We started our day very early, driving out from our homestay house at 6.45am and arriving at the start of the hike at around 7.30am. The start of the hike was quite easily located and the trail we first followed seems straight forward enough. However, it was a bit gross as it passed through someone's farmland and thus we hike just right beside a small herd of very curious cows. There wasn't much attention paid to the view at this time as we were too busy trying not to step on the countless puddles of cow dung littering the trail.

Perhaps we were too engrossed in the cow dung eyeing that we ended up not seeing the track, but we got sidelined and instead of going the way we intended to, we took a long detour to Busby Head and Smuggler's Bay. We wandered aimlessly, being quite lost for about 1.5 hours before meeting a lady, doing her morning walk. She was very helpful and assisted us by pointing us in the correct direction to the actual start of our hike. She also imparted us with some really useful advice, which is to take the trail but return via the road as the trail is too much to do to-fro. The trail is 7.5km but the road is only about 5km.

It turned out to be a thigh burning, calf straining hike. There were plenty of steep uphills. I was glad I put on sunblock, brought plenty of water and food. At some summit points, the sun was just blazing down and we were actually sweating puddles! At some instances in the hike, I actually wished I had invested in some hiking poles as my knees wobbled going downhill.

In the end, the total distance walked was about 17km as we made a few false starts and we did a detour to Peach Cove. This distance took us 9 hours in total including all our meal breaks.

We were extremely exhausted but it was a super rewarding hike! On our last stretch back, we actually met the lady who gave us the directions. She actually lives in one of the houses along the road near the start of the hike. She cheered us on as we walked by!

Something interesting happen on the hike, I chanced upon a baby Pukeko bird (a native bird in NZ) and snuck up on it to take a photo. Unfortunately, I did not realized my camera made a loud shot noise and I alarmed the chick. It squawk to alert the mother Pukeko who came charging at me. I ran like crazy from the bird!

---

Photos

The DOC signboard
It list down all the track and the times needed to complete.

Cows!
Note Jie Min's nervous face as she is worried the cows are going to charge at us!

Trudging along..
... trying to avoid cow dung!

Gun Battery
One of the attractions we bumped into after getting lost!

The 3 sor-tois
Gazing out from the gun battery trying to imitate soldiers of yesteryear.

The gun battery sign
This door was built to preserve the murals painted inside the gun battery walls from the elements. The murals has to be restored.

Finally!
We found the correct trail!

We made it!
The hike up to Mt Lion was steep!

Slipped!
Lie Wei slipped on a dry sandy part of the trail and attempted to break her fall by grabbing at tufts of grass. Unfortunately, they didn't break her fall and she fell with a tuft of grass in her grasp. She found it funny.