After burning out the motor in my electric lawnmower on Friday, I gave up up on my lawns and contacted Robert to arrange a walk in the Waitaks for Saturday.

We walked up the Karamatura stream, had lunch with Old Tom Thumb, and climbed to the top of Goat Hill for some overcast views of Auckland and Cornwallis. Coming back we returned via the Karamatura Waterfall.

On the track up to Goat Hill I found this bullet. I called the police today to find out if I should hand it in to them, but they said that wasn’t a necessity although I could if it made me feel safer.

Had a few beers and some Sages Indian curry with Robert and Tim back at my place.

Kirsty, Jess, Brendan, Dave – Karamatura

Brendan suggested a tramp for Saturday. We did the Karamatura Loop Walk at Huia in the Waitakere Ranges. This is an pleasant easy little walk which is easy to get to. The path heads up the bank of Karamatura Stream, there’s a few narrow places due to erosion, but no problem. The loop path returns to the carpark higher up the valley. This section used to just be a track, but has been recently upgraded into a gravel (metalled), bridged and mud-free path with a couple of nice look outs over the valley and Manuaku Harbour. Finished the walk just as the rain started pouring down.

( I’ve explored a lot of the tracks in the Southern part of the Waitaks, but looking up at it on Saturday I realised I’ve never climbed all the way to the top of Te Toiokwharu the highest point in the Ranges. I’ll have to do that this year,)

Returned to Brendan & Jess’s for delicious home-made cake, coffee and beer.