So here I am, some months later, very excited about Helen’s advertised trip to Mercer Bay; totally sold on the pitch black cave adventure (torches required), only accessible at low tide, a challenging climb down the steep 160m cliff (rope assisted in three sections), and the promise of a magnificent Cathedral Cave. Too interesting to miss, I’m signed up.
Having done the repeat wander to the lovely lookout, I find myself standing on self-same track and saying to myself “oh, that cliff”. It would be fair to say there wasn’t a rush to go over the top, more like “after you….no, no its alright… after you”. Karen was doing some serious psyching; she was on a mission to defeat a fear of heights. The first timers I must say were totally up for it and I might miss quote Michelle’s “into the breach” comment as she launched off down the track to start the 160m descent with a big smile.
On the way down there were times when I was having fun hanging on to flaxes, rocks and sure footing it down to the next level. I’d always wanted to have a go at abseiling and at least one of the rope assists gave me an idea of how much fun that would be. There were times when the track was very loose and not much fun, then again I had been going down backwards and veered off track. Over half way down I was really over the fourth (small) rock tumbling down from above, and into my bra! And then we were there, on solid west coast black sand. Couldn’t resist as I ‘high-fived’ Karen, that was one hell of a test for a fear of heights and she came through with an A+. It certainly felt like an achievement.
Turning our attention to the dark dark cave we donned headlights and followed Dave with his BIG torch into the black. A few brave souls ploughed through the incoming low tide identifying where the sandbar lay. Paula, not quite so lucky found one of the deeper pot holes and found herself neck deep, and refreshed. Helen called a halt for a while to let the low settle into the tide before we all trooped through the wash and into the enormous Cathedral Cave where we were indeed met with a most impressive natural structure beneath the highest coastal cliff in Auckland with cascading golden sunlight streaming onto the rockfall below. Helen’s advertising had delivered!
We camped out on the rocks in Mercer Bay, a little soggy, and had lunch. After a bit of a wander around the bay to take in the impressive rock formations of the northern cliff faces, and the scurry of wind assisted sand racing across the beach, we headed back up the cliff.
In short order we were back on the track. We had split into two parties by now with the fast party taking off to do a greater loop (even if they missed a turn and had a short cut), and the rest of us off down AhuAhu and Cowan track for a very pleasant bush walk to top off the day. 100% success rate and smiles all round.
Thanks to Darryl for driving (even if it does cost you a replacement for a son’s soggy phone), and of course thanks to Helen, it was truly an impressive tramp.