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40th adventure Alaska Anawhata Anniversary Aotea Track Balloons Beach Bear Sanctuary Birthday Birthday Celebration Cannibal Creek Club Night Coffee Difficult Dome Valley Easy Fairy Falls Friday Great Barrier Island Hamilton Kepler Track McNeil River Moderate Piha Running Swim Tramp travel Trips Waiheke Walking
Meet at Taumanu Reserve carpark at the end of Seacliff Rd, off Carlston Street, Hillsborough. A pleasant one and a quarter hour walk taking in a lake, boardwalk and the foreshore.
Grade: Medium
Timing: See below
Auckland Anniversary Weekend. Change of tramp due to the track closures. Two options offered.
Option 1 Parau track to Huia dam for lunch, returning to cars at Parau car park, approx 6.5hrs.
Option 2 for those that want a shorter day, do a car shuttle and leave required cars at Huia approx 3.5hrs.
Check the tide – may be good for a stop at Cornwallis
Grade ; Moderate/Difficult
Timing; 4+ hrs
Pararaha Valley and Cowan Stream. Time of the year again for a scramble up the most dramatic valley in the Waitaks. A challenging day for intrepid trampers. Not easy. Start and finish Lone Kauri Rd. Hopefully warm enough to follow team leader in for a dip. Voluntary or not……
Grade: Moderate
We will head up the Fletcher Track and along the steep spur to the main ridge overlooking Huia. From there we will walk the ridge to Donald McLean Track and up to Mt Donald McLean (389m) summit. Returning via the Karamatura Track alongside the stream. This track was very muddy when we did it last year so hopefully not so much mud in February. The Fletcher track is steep, so a good level of fitness is required.
Grade: Easy/Moderate
Timing: 4 hours
We will first park to explore Chatham Reserve then go to Sanders Reserve. Opened in Nov 2011 this park is in the area surrounded by Albany & Paeremoremo. There is a good gravel walking path that will take us along the ridge above the water to some tree carved sculptures. From there we can go down to the beach where there are two sheltered bays. High tide is 10am so bring a towel if you wish to go swimming.
Julia Schmack from Auckland University Biology department chose to work on the ecology and control of Vespula wasps as they are invading various regions of the world and have become a severe pest in New Zealand. She is interested in the drivers of wasp invasion, its assessment and control. With her PHD, she would like to contribute to the outstanding research on Vespula wasps in New Zealand pursued over the last decade.
This will be very interesting as we have all felt the effect of these invaders while tramping in the Waitakeres.