Sunday 15 February 2015

Weekending - The Day Hike Edition

















On Sunday, the Scout, Miss B, Mr J and I all had a hearty breakfast,  packed our day hike bags, put on our hiking boots and headed west to Karekare Beach.  This is a black sand beach, (made famous by the movie - The Piano) bordered by the rugged yet beautiful Waitekere Ranges.

We were doing the Karekare -Zion Hill -Pararaha Valley-Tunnel Point Beach Track.  This track is only about 7-8 km and took us just under 4 hours.  The first part of the hike was Karekare to Zion Hill - uphill all the way in very warm sunny conditions.   A short stop at a lookout gave us stunning views of the beach and the endless Tasman Sea.  Needless to say we were extremely pleased when we got to the top and it levelled out.  The next part part of the track was lovely native bush, lots of kauri,  ponga ferns and nikau palms to shade us.

After a brief lunch stop we  started Pararaha Valley Track, walking on  board walks through swamps and then very narrow tracks through tussock covered sand dunes.  Then we hit the fine  soft black sand. This was hard going, but again we found flat land at Tunnel point, where we went through an old abandoned tram tunnel.  Once we left this part, it was  a black sand beach walk all the way to the car park, with the ocean to our left and rocky cliffs on our right.

It was a good hike, through lots of different and interesting terrains and landscapes.  No doubt we will have a few stiff muscles tomorrow.

Hoping you have all had a fabulous weekend too.

9 comments:

  1. Looks like a great day out, similar to me I went for a lovely tramp up here to a beautiful bluff then along a beach, so very beautiful.

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  2. Beautiful scenery, a great day out.

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  3. Beautiful scenes all around - my kind of walk (although not so keen on steep walks). Love the trees, delightful differences all in a day's walk. The black sand must look amazing.

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  4. Gorgeous photos Julie - sounds like a wonderful day out :)

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  5. Your photos are always so lovely!

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  6. My goodness.....what a beautiful hike dear friend!! So much beauty to take in all around you!!!!! Thank you for inspiring me with this post!!! Have a wonderful week buddy! Nicole xoxo

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  7. Wow, a beautiful hike. I love the bush, palm and fern photos. It looks so fun to hike in that area. A beautiful post. Thank you for sharing.
    Carla

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  8. Such amazing plants! Although I am totally fascinated by the rusted iron object. I cannot imagine what it once was! A great hike for you obviously! xx

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