By the numbers
2 pairs of boots
19.63kms
28,488 steps
Today was the day that I had partly free since Claude and
Granny had several other things they had to do and I knew exactly what it was
that I was after. I had gotten up early as I wanted to leave for the epic walk
from Whangarei Falls following the tracks to Whangarei Town Basin. That was the
plan anyway.
I left my grandparents place early enough, although I had no
real idea how long this marathon walk would take. I was leaving well before
school started in the morning as kids were still around and several were
sitting outside of the local Dairy or to the rest of us, the corner store like
a 7/11. I did find there seemed to be a few walkers hanging around and I think
quite a few were up well before I was to go on their walks. I went all the way
down to the waterfall and off towards the Kauri forest walk entrance that was a
little way off that is part of the AH Reed Reserve. I was beginning to wonder
if someone had been there over the last 6 months to upgrade the tracks as I
could have sworn they were better than the last time I was there. The only part
I had not done before was the walk from the AH Reed Reserve to the entrance of
the Parihaka Reserve. I found I had to follow the local roadway down to the
Reserve entrance and it was not too bad as there was a footpath to follow and
occasionally a post that pointed out the direction I needed to go. I was
feeling the heat of todays sun since the sky was not very cloudy at all. It did
feel nice and I was making a good pace to the tracks I wanted.
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| Mine entrance |
At the entrance to the Parihaka Reserve happened to be what
I thought to be maintenance people, but their truck had the words graffiti
cleaners so I could be half right. I had my fitbit on me and I think by this
time I had done a touch over 4kms, so off I went heading to one of the tracks
that would take me up the hill. The name of the track was the Hokianga and last
time I had gone up, I went along the track and went back down to head to the
lookout by Drummond, when I did not need to. I was really feeling the limb this
morning as I huffed and puffed my way up with people jogging down the track.
Funny thing about the podcast I was listening to at the time was about eco
tourism and environmentalism as I had gotten it by the ABC RN website. It made
me want to visit the Grand Canyon as apparently people do not walk far from the
tourist centre building. The track at the top of Hokianga I had later found
could take me to the summit lookout of Parihaka. This time I followed the track
called Dobbie, which was the reason I had bought a sock with me. Being a Harry
Potter fan, I draped the sock over the sign for Dobbie to free the house elf.
The spelling is really Dobby, but I thought it would be my share of mischief.
The Dobbie track did take me all the way up the top and I was feeling really
good with myself to have made it up there. I could see the spectacular view of
Whangarei, right out to Whangarei Heads as it was a clear day. They had
upgraded the summit as they had included a carved rock that is meant to have some
significance to the area not that I was going to complain about that. There
were now information panels explaining the history to Mount Parihaka including
the significance to the local Maori.
The walk down would take me on another track that I knew to
be steep and comes wit the disclaimer not to attempt when it is wet. Luckily
for me it was a pretty dry couple of days so I would attempt to head down. I
did pass people on the steep track going up and I thought it was funny they
were doing this. There was a reason I wanted to go down the hill this way. I
had seen somewhere that there was an old goldmine towards the bottom that did
not produce much in the way of gold. Once I had navigated my way to the bottom,
I went looking for the clue that there was a mine entrance. I found it alright
and there was a log that was solidly in front of it, but not stopping me from
entry anyway. I tried taking a video with my phone acting as a camera, but my
phone’s torch was not strong enough. The funny thing was that my phone’s flash
was. I did not go into the hole, but only at the entrance. Someone passing
noticed I had my camera on record and asked how I do it as he couldn’t figure
out his. I pointed out to press the red button and you would be on your way.
I wa now on my way down to the Town Basin at Whangarei,
where I thought I could take the loop track via the Te Matauā Pohe bridge. I
thought I had the time to get there and while I did, I found the bridge to be
going up. I thought this was cool until I went to cross and the bridge went up
the full way again to let a passing boat through. I did walk through to the
Town Basin where Claude had met up with me and I had gone to see if Reyburn
House was open as they always have some decent books on the local are written
by independents that are not in the bookshops. It was closed, but I went with
Claude to have lunch and to meet an old family friend. I was then set free to
visit the second hand bookshop called The Piggery, which has many, many books
available. I did visit, but I went to see if I could end up at the Warehouse, where
I ended up going in circles as I was a little lost in finding the place, but
was on the other side of the river. I had to visit the Information Centre as I
wanted info on Waiheke Island. From there I visited the book shop and wandered
around town for a little bit before being picked up since it was now late
afternoon. I was buggered after my long walk and aimless wandering, but it was
worth it as I needed a day out to just wander.
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