After our three days' respite at Orewa Beach--the last two featured some relatively nice weather, 70s, partly sunny, great for beach walks--we decamped and drove on north to Mangawhai and the beach/cliff walk there. Typically, depending on the tides, one hikes up the beach, then ascends the cliffs and hikes back on them. Or vice versa. This we did in 2018 (https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2018/03/mangawhai-cliffs-1.html and https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2018/03/mangawhai-cliffs-2.html) and also, part way, in 2014 (https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/03/waipu-and-mangawhai-heads_30.html). It is one of the most popular of the North Island's many day hikes. Except this day, the weather was not so great, gray, 25mph winds, spitting rain. Footing along the last half of the beach walk is rocky and challenging in the best of conditions, so we opted to hike both ways along the cliff tops, avoiding the difficult footing and also the sand-blasting along the beach. Not as good as the 2018 experience, but, hey, 16,000 steps and a couple hundred meters elevation gained and lost. 250 steps up and down, Vicki adds, which she surmounted and dismounted using her trusty walking sticks. And artificial knee.
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Sentinel Rock, just out from the carpark and beginning of the hike
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| After a kilometer or so, we are now atop the "cliffs" |
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| Seaward are Sail Rock and Hen Island; the Chick Islands off to the left |
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Just as on the west coast of Northland, miles and miles of undeveloped
beaches |
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| Other direction, toward the Natural Arch on the beach |
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| End of the trail, for us; note slip (landslide) |
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On the way back, Vicki has noted a tree that the wind is pretty
much ripping off the trail side; thinking this might make an
interesting video... |
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Rocking back and forth with each gust, the crevasse perceptibly
widening... |
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Maybe we'll come back in a few years to see whether
it's still there |
1 comment:
Wow! 16,000 steps. You guys are amazing!
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