Day 7, Level 2.5: Atiu Creek Reservoir Walk, ovine entertainment and pukekos
After doing some editing work, I headed off to Atiu Creek Regional Park. Sited out on the Kaipara Harbour, about an hour north west of Omaha on the west coast, it's a large chunk of remote land that was gifted to Auckland Council by Pierre (Swiss-born) and Jackie Chatelanat in 2005. Pierre died in 2018.
The Kaipara Harbour is one of the largest harbours in the world, with lots of arms and fingers extending throughout. It must surely also be one of the most remote, not to mention dangerous, with 43 shipwrecks. It's known as "the graveyard". It is a place where both Maori and European settlers made homes and created farmland. It is a blend of rolling hillsides, native bush, pine forests, wetlands and inlets.
This place is out on such a limb that in the two hours I spent there, I saw just three people, very fleetingly. I decided I'd do the Reservoir Track with is described as "a pleasant loop". You can do it clockwise or anticlockwise. I had no idea so chose the latter. I started off walking along a tracked road surrounded by tall pine trees. The road was covered in pine needles, there were a few native trees thrown in - the whole thing was rather "Into the Woods", NZ-style. A Brothers Grimm setting on a remote harbour headland.
The track signage then led me through a gate and across a wide expanse of vibrant green paddock with rye grasses. Exposed yet sheltered, it was a rambling amble across to the reservoir where there were birds in action, squawking and flying about in flocks. From there I headed up into another part of woodland. Quite steep and I took it slowly. Once at the top, I turned left and took the track along the edge of the forest. Through another gate and I was into a large hillside paddock full of sheep and their lambs. This is a working farm and it's lambing season. Lambs were frolicking and baa-ing and suckling and boing-ing. The parents stared at me as if to say "who the hell are you?" I spent ages in this paddock observing ovine behaviour - I think every type of human personality was on show here; shy, indignant, skittish, bolshy, scared, intrigued, friendly, not-so-friendly, aloof, happy, bored, content, edgy, wary, bemused ... I didn't encounter an antagonistic animal and could walk freely amongst them, taking photos and videos. The baa-ing and maa-ing was almost deafening!
One little lamb had obviously mislaid its mother and was bounding all over the place crying out loudly. Eventually he/she found what they were looking for and after bounding happily for a rebonding session, it had a good long drink.
On I walked, up through a field with more sheep and also cows. The views became pretty spectacular and I could look back on the loop I'd done. The wind had got up and by now the pine trees were dancing and groaning.
Back at the car park it was howling a real gale. Most of the walk I did was sheltered, which was a good thing. Being overcast and temperate, I was fine in a t-shirt and wind-breaker, although I did have extra clothes just in case it was cold. Didn't need them.
I imagine in the height of summer it would get very hot - and the shade of the pines would be welcome.
Back to Omaha after a thoroughly enjoyable expedition to a part of the country I hadn't been to before - well, I've been to the Kaipara but it's a big place. I've been wanting to go to Atiu Creek since reading about it when it was gifted. It's taken a while! It's pretty much as authentic rural countryside as you can get. You may encounter horses on the tracks, and/or cyclists. There's a campground here too, closed in winter. And you can also stay at the homestead.
The walk I did was just the right combo of timeframe and terrain for me - and being able to take it at my own pace, stop and take photos whenever I wanted, smell the pine needles so to speak, was just perfect. There are plenty of other walks, some more challenging and heading to the coast. Water activities are a no-no, it's too dangerous; I imagine the views out across Solomons Bay must be spectacular, I didn't get that far.
The drive there and back is also spectacular. Except I had a bit of a scare en route there. There's a one-way bridge and after I'd crossed it, a woman in a big SUV came driving towards me on the wrong side of the road - she peeled out from behind another car and was heading straight for me, making no effort to get back on her side of the road. WTF? I honked and slowed and wondered what the hell she was doing. At the last minute she swerved but then, I saw to my horror, in the rear view mirror, that she immediately went back and continued on the wrong side of the road towards the bridge. I've no idea what she was doing - as I drove on, I wondered if I'd just hallucinated! The roads are windy and narrow here and you have to have your wits about you, especially if you don't know the roads. At first I thought perhaps it was a foreign driver who'd got their roadsides mixed up and would figure that out in a hurry, but there aren't too many around at the moment! She was an older Maori woman who glared at me, stared me down as she drove straight at me. I got a good look at her as I shook my head is utter disbelief. What was she thinking? She either thinks she owns the road or has lost the plot. It had me flabbergasted. The whole thing was all in slo-mo and I really thought she was going to slam straight into me - on purpose. We weren't going that fast, due to the one-way bridge causing traffic to slow - but we were going fast enough for plenty of damage to have been done if I hadn't slowed to almost a stop and she hadn't swerved away at the last minute. There were two other cars who would have borne witness if anything had happened. Madness.
After all that exercise and drama, I was rather hungry. Made a chicken crispy noodle salad with walnuts which was very tasty and hit the spot.
SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Pukeko ...
Here are some photos of pukeko taken at Tawharanui Regional Park a couple of days ago. They wander freely all over the place. Love the little baby - but I was terrified it was going to run out into the road! Mother was traipsing along behind it as it toddled along the verge! They're rather ungainly birds, and highly entertaining to watch. Especially when they're barely the size of a tennis ball!
BTW I've pitched an article on some of Auckland's lesser known regional parks to the Herald Travel section - which they want. Hence the happy escapades! It's work!
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