The days of summer are coming to a belated end, but that is no reason to hang up the walking shoes just yet. This week’s excursion was the Gibbons Track from Whatipu, right at the entrance to Manukua Harbour on the Northern side.
Gibbons track is not as well formed as some in the Waitakeres and is quite muddy in places – I would hate to have to clamber up the slippery slopes in the rain. Luckily the day we picked was fine and we got some great views out over the Tasman sea.

Gibbons track eventually turns into Muir track, which descends quickly (including a very steep bit were you have to climb down a small rock face above a steep drop!) down into the Pararaha Valley from the other side as the Zion Hill Track.

From the Pararaha camping site it is possible to rock-hop off track up the stream. We only went a short distance, but there are some nice rock pools and water falls upstream.

The round-trip back to Whatipu takes you down the valley and through the wetlands to the beach. The wetlands turned out to be a trackless maze, and it is almost impossible to reach the sand without getting your feet muddy. However you will soon dry out on the long walk back around the desolate dunes.

Whatipu is also the start of a short walk to some interesting caves, some quite large. They make a nice change of pace from the burning sun on the black sand.

Yesterday I continued my exploration of Auckland’s west coast by walking the Mt Zion track which packs quite a varied array of landscapes into a relatively short distance.

Tracks whose titles start with “Mt” always have steep bits, and Mt Zion is no exception. The track rises through native bush with the pay-off being some spectacular lookouts with views out over the wide dunes below.

After about 30 minutes of walking, the climbing ends as the track starts gently descending back into a marshy wetland area. The contrast between the bush covered hills, the reeds of the wetland, and the grey dunes directly abutting is really quite striking.

A short detour took us up the Pararaha stream to an excellent camping site/lunch spot, which was well worth the extra time. What none of the maps will tell you is that you have to ford a calm but surprisingly deep stream to get there – expect to get wet knees.

The trip back to Karekare is no less varied – the track wends its way through marsh and dune, the coolness of the wetlands providing some relief from the burning black sand of the beach. The track passes trough tunnel point (itself a lovely little rest stop) before the final push across the beach back to the car park.

This week’s Waitakare walk is Parua Track, just behind Huia. Parua Track rises through young native forest to reveal… well, nothing much except this nice view of the Manukau Heads.

We didn’t actually do the whole track, preferring to take the loop that took us back to the car park at the Lower Huia Dam (itself worth a quick look via the 5 minute detour near the end).

I had yesterday off work, so I decided to take advantage of the sun and head out to Karekare. I think I prefer Karekare to close-by Piha, the beach is not as good for swimming but the landscape is certainly more interesting.

With only a couple of hours to spare, I decided to check out a short track that promised to take me to a lookout and back in 40 minutes. It is not a well maintained track but 20 minutes of picking my way uphill through the bush found me standing at the top of cliffs overlooking the Karekare waterfall. The view was certainly worth the steep climb.

I still had some time left, so I went for a walk along the spectacular beach. Large cliffs drop straight down onto a wide black-sand expanse. Just around the bay to the south is what seems to be an endless series of low dunes stretching as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately lack of time and proper footwear (that black sand gets HOT!) prevented me from exploring further.

One day I will mount a proper expedition around the cliffs, there is supposed to be a good track that heads south around the bays.