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| Some of North Shore NordicWalkers, Long Bay Coastal Track |
We met and walked down Toroa Street in Torbay, turned left into Cliff Road and down to the bottom of the road; from there we made our way to the Oneroa track and down to Long Bay Beach. We passed MERC (Marine Education Recreation Centre) on the right and made our way across the foot bridge and turned left to follow the road right into the park.
After the short walk up to the bottom car park we followed the sign for the Coastal Track on the right, which took us up and onto the cliff. The walk is hard work as there is a slight incline all the way to the top but what makes it harder is that underfoot the path is gravel; hard for poles to gain purchase and certainly unkind to knees should one take a tumble. The other setbacks along the route are cattle grids and gates, it does seem that you are forever opening and closing gates and as we all know cattle grids aren’t particularly great for navigating whilst holding onto poles, what with that and the added hazard of stepping into cow pats makes the walk a little challenging.
Once at the top of the cliff the views are spectacular overlooking the Hauraki Gulf and even though the weather wasn’t clear we could make out a number of the small islands surrounding the Shore. We made our way down to Granny’s Bay which is a small beach and at Low tide it is possible to walk across and back to Long Bay. It’s not always advisable though as you have to scramble across rocks and if they are still wet it can be dangerous underfoot, also like many of the cliffs in the area they are unstable and it isn’t advisable to walk so close to the cliff.
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| Rangitoto from the Cliff top, Long Bay |
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| Granny's Bay, Long Bay |
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| Granny's Bay Beach |
We admired the view from Granny’s Bay and some of our locals did attempt to name some of the islands in the distance but I had to look them up when I came home, as no one seemed 100% certain although Rangitoto was of course instantly recognisable. On the right of Rangitoto there is Motutapu which is now a reserve and a lot older than Rangitoto and it also has a very different botanical and geological environment than Rangi (as it’s known locally). I was told by the ladies of the group that there is a causeway between Rangi and Motutapu and there are walking tracks to explore there (watch this space as I feel a ferry ride coming on). On a clear day we can see all the way over to the Coromandel peninsula and I suspect Great Barrier Island. Out to the east of Gulf Harbour, not far from Shakespear Park and across the water is Tiritiri Matangi.
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| Tiritiri Maitantgi - Photo 2010 |
Tiritiri Matangi or Tiri is an open sanctuary and reserve which I have visited in the past and it’s a fabulous place having undergone an extensive replanting programme run by many volunteers and is now home to many endangered NZ animals and birds, including the famous Greg a naughty Takahe. Greg is partial to the odd sandwich, in fact when we were there he managed to swipe a chicken sandwich from an unsuspecting child, we weren’t sure if this made him a cannibal! They are quite a large ungainly bird very similar in colouring to the smaller Pukeko although the experts would probably tell me otherwise. There only a couple of hundred left of these birds, they are wonderful to watch and with all the beautiful birds on Tiri Island it does make trip by ferry worthwhile. Again another potential walking day but are walking poles allowed?
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| Greg, Tiritiri Mataingi - 2010 |
After our brief stop at Granny’s Bay we walked back the same way but on the return trip we picked up the Nature Trail on the left at the bottom of the Coastal Track which took us back down the cliff onto wooden steps and into bush. The trail here is relatively short and mainly boardwalk covered with a kind of mesh to prevent slips although it’s a bit of a nuisance for poles and you do have to be careful that you don’t lose an asphalt paw on the way around. This trail brought us out by the side of Vaughan Estate and turned right back into the park over the bridge where we stopped a while to watch the eels. Making our way back via the road we took a shortcut across the park and headed down to the beach.
The beach was very busy with lots of dogs, but the weather was starting to change so we quickly ducked back over the small bridge opposite MERC and headed up Beach Road and back to Toroa Street, we did get slightly damp but after a two hour hike over the cliff we were very keen to have our coffee at the Artisans Bakery at Torbay shops.
Sadly there were no date scones left, but I can happily report that the blueberry muffin was exceedingly good!
Information & Sources:Greg, YouTube and the Tiri Takahe experience http://bit.ly/x5aYVr
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