Two Walks in the Forest and Then Two Beers.............................................

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As we hoped for, the norwester wind that had sprung up during the night calmed down as the sun rose rather dramatically from the sea on the horizon.

Breakfast on the terrace in already a warm temperature was a pleasant experience and it might have been easy to say ‘let’s just kick back and not go tramping off into the forest today’.

However, we have only one full day here in Gore Bay so we best make the most of it and stick to the plan of 2 forest walks.

The first was the Tweedies Gully trail through bush and uphill to a fine lookout both to the north and south of the bay.

The track was relatively easy except for one landslip to negotiate where ducking under a large fallen tree and then over its branches was the most difficult part.

Gore Bay has reportedly only a small permanent population of 14 people although there are a few more houses than that, many being holiday homes.

And this being the weekend there were more people around although not on our upward climb through Tweedies Gully.

Andrew Tweedie, who the track was named after, was one of the first settlers in Gore Bay and owned a large amount of the land in the general area. He was born in Scotland in 1852 and emigrated to Christchurch in 1865 where he worked at his trade as a carpenter until he moved to the Cheviot when the town was established in 1894 and was responsible for many of the early structures built. He then settled at Gore Bay in 1898.

We only met 2 other people on our way up the hill.However,during our short rest at the top other people emerged from the bush and we began to wonder if all of the holiday population were out taking the trail on this fine, sunny morning. That thought continued as we started back down the trail and by the time we reached the bottom we had counted 20 others on what we first thought would be a quiet stroll.

It was just after midday when we emerged from the bush and back to our car realising that we had forgotten our packed lunch which we had left back at the apartment, so lunch on a bench overlooking the ocean and the solitary surfer trying to do his thing in the low surf was not going to be where we would enjoy our bread rolls etc.

A quick stop back at our apartment and we met up with John, our host and chatted with him finding out about his disability after a mining accident and a life thereafter which has and still is being fully lived. Chatting with him was an inspiration for getting on with and enjoying life!

The next trail we thought was going to be from Port Robinson to Manuka Bay and we drove to where we expected the start of the trail to be only to find no indication of where to start. We then remembered that John had said it might be an option but the trail wasn’t a DOC walk and could prove a challenge.

Port Robinson sounded interesting as it served the Cheviot area in the late 1800’s through to the 1950’s with small vessels anchoring offshore and small surf boats bringing goods ashore and taking off farm products including wool. The port had been busy enough for a small population and a school set on the cliff above the rocks.

We carried on to Manuka Bay and reversed the car so we could have a boot lunch as there were no picnic tables or shade to sit under.

There was a sign showing the way to the walk between the bay and the Hurunui River Mouth. The sign said 4.8km distance and the DOC leaflet said 6km return. Which one was right? and were we up for another 6km of bush trekking?

The decision made to proceed and we headed off along a track that ran the length of the long beach on the other side of the sand dunes from the ocean. Initially this track looked like it would eat up a fair amount of the 6km return journey.

However, good things come to an end and the beach finished and then there was just a rocky coastline with a headland that you couldn’t see beyond.

The track headed towards a steep hillside covered with bush and after a further discussion we decided to carry on as long as the climb didn’t get too steep.

Again it was pleasant bush to be walking through and initially not steep although the fact that the track appeared to be taking us away from our destination and back towards the car was a warning that somewhere along the way there had to be a zigzag to climb to make progress southwards.

And sure enough there was a zigzag and then a steep gully to climb up where the track was deeply rutted making progress slow, but we kept going as Gretchen’s knee held out and my recent hip replacement didn’t give me any bother whatsoever.

There wasn’t quite the number of fantails and tuis in this bush as there was this morning when the birdcalls were coming from everywhere we turned and fantails had followed our path catching the disturbed insects in our wake.

Eventually we emerged from the bush high up near a ridge and we had a view of the sea which close to shore had a milky look indicating that perhaps the river mouth and our destination was close by.

However, the track then started to head downwards and that meant that if we continued we would have to climb back up again and our instinct and starting to tire legs suggested enough was enough and that we could always drive to the river mouth to take in the views.

We hadn’t seen anyone on our trek upwards but on our return we passed at least a dozen walkers including one father carrying a young child in a back pack arrangement which we thought would be an interesting experience to watch when he had to descend back through the gully we were now in again picking our way down the steep, rutted track.

It didn’t seem to take as long for us to get back to the car park as we had thought it might and after a quick look at the beach from the top of the sand dunes we were on our way for a short drive to the mouth of the river that was our target on the trail we had abandoned.

We estimated that we had last seen the man with the baby carrier about an hour ago and as we pulled into the end car park at the river mouth end of the trail the family appeared having walked the rest of the distance we had decided against.

The group of about 10 people had had the right idea having a vehicle parked at each end of the trail which meant that they didn’t have to do the return trip along the trail.

We did offer to take a couple of passengers back to the starting point but were pleased in the end that they said they would make a couple of trips to move all their bodies.Pleased,because one couple getting into the car asked the driver if they should wear their mask.

Oddly, for the last 2h hours we haven’t been near anyone except our hosts and COVID isn’t a word that has been in our vocab.May this continue!

Back home the cold beers were very welcome and refreshing and we sat on the terrace enjoying the late afternoon warm sun readying ourselves eventually for dinner.

With no TV reception and the internet fluctuating we hauled out a DVD to watch on the laptop until tiredness finally overcame us and headed for bed.

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