I had prayed to the weather gods for a sunny day but had obviously overdone it as it was a real scorcher at 26 degrees. Sorry guys ! Sixteen of us set off to tropical Karekare (yes, it was Karekare and not Kerikeri- where a new person who rang me up wanted us to take her!)
From the full car park we headed up the Ahuahu to the viewing platforms – and what a view it is ( and what a climb it was!) Then down to further admire the views from Comans track. Our little medium/ slower group had lunch in the shade in the pohutukawa grove before facing the sun again and setting out along the beach towards Pararaha valley. From there we came back over the top.
Everyone acquitted themselves well especially our new person Anne, who smiled all day and wanted to come along again. The smile could of course have been a grimace by the end of the slog back to the bus!
A good day, amazing views, some tracks we don’t do that often but hot, hot, HOT. Maybe a repeat of this could be an autumn or winter trip in future
Many, many thanks to Campbell for driving – fitting a number of cars into the park could have been a real problem – and to all my companions on the tracks who didn’t quite get cooked in the heat!