Claudia's walk this Tuesday turned out to be something of a magical mystery tour of the Orewa area, based on a 'figure of eight' and created with the inside knowledge of a local.  

16 of us set out from the car park of the Arts Centre and crossed the road to the beach.  The sun glinted off the fast in-flowing water of the estuary and at first glance the black blob in the water looked like a buoy but it turned out to be the head of a dog!  This dog was on a 'water treadmill', paddling furiously and stemming the tide, moving neither forward nor back.  We were unable to linger and see for how much longer it was able to maintain this impressive display.

We continued to the north end of Orewa on the coastal path and what remained of the beach at high tide, before morning tea under pohutukawas .  We then crossed the road into the beautifully maintained Eaves Reserve and took the path up the hill and to the north.  We were briefly joined by a ginger cat who was probably up to no good, but he soon lost interest in us as we gained height via an impressive hillside of kauri.  On leaving the reserve we wound our way through a number of streets then along a track beside a stream leading to Hatfield Beach.  On the other side of the main road we turned back towards Orewa and via tracks and lanes near the cliff we circles back to Eaves Reserve.  This time taking the lower bush track, past the 800 year old kauri, we emerged into the contrasting world of the pristine apartments and town houses of the suburb of Kensington.   We crossed playing fields and a walkway along the colourful Maygrove Pond until we reached the mangroves of the estuary, where we had lunch.  

With still a long way to go we hurried on towards the south side of the estuary into the the rapidly growing suburb of Millwater.  Here a dozen geese and their young, apparently abandoned when the farmer sold up, waddled across the road - the modern day suburban castaways.

The final part of the walk took us between houses and some beautiful gardens overlooking the estuary.  At regular intervals the interestingly carved wooden benches were tempting for a quick sit down  in order to relieve by now sore legs.  We had walked a total of 14.7kms.  

Thank you Claudia for an interesting and enjoyable outing.  

Marion 

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