Monika Coles
I’ve been quite a wimp the last few Sundays, deciding not to go on a tramp because of a little spit of rain, or the chance of rain or, in my eyes, absolute torrential rain! But the first Sunday in July, two days after the winter started and the temperature in the mornings dropped to low single digits, I decided it was time for me to get out and enjoy the sunny day ahead.
When I got on the bus I couldn’t believe how many people there were. The bus was so full that I thought for a minute I wouldn’t even fit on. And so many new people; it was definitely the biggest turnout I’ve seen in the whole year of being with the club.
The trip up to Ti Point, with Bernard driving, went really quickly, with everyone chatting and getting to know each other. Among the new faces were two people from Imogen’s work, and Stuart, the owner—in fact, the whole Tree Focus crowd. It was great to meet them and have them come along for the day.
Part of my motivation for going on this trip was a bad memory that went back thirteen years, when I went to Goat Island with my family. Our kids were very young, and we had been told that it was the place to go for snorkelling. When we got there it was overcrowded, we found it difficult to get on a boat because they were all sold out and couldn’t get enough snorkelling gear for the whole family.
It was all very uncomfortable and dirty, and I hadn’t been back since that day. But now I had a chance to see Goat Island another way, through fresh eyes, and boy, did I!
When we got off the bus Eileen gave us the choice of walking across two kilometres of rocks to Matheson Bay, or walking along the coastal track to the start of the rocks and turning back. I decided to go with the group going over the rocks, not really knowing what lay ahead. I’m okay with rocks, I thought. This should be fun.
We started at Ti Point and, well, what can I say? I was absolutely blown away right from the start. What opened up in front of me and around me was unbelievable.
There were beautiful big white rocks scattered all through grass that framed the narrow path between the sea and the countryside. It was just magical. The path carried along the coastline like this for ages until we got to a clearing. The beautiful white rocks in the lovely green grass made me think of the winter scene in a fairytale from my childhood called Tri Orisky Pro Popelku. I was just waiting for the prince from that story to turn up, dressed all in white on his white horse. Oh man, it was wonderful.
The whole day was just incredible. Everyone was excited and wanted to share it as much as possible, which you can see by all the beautiful photos that appeared on Facebook just a few hours after the trip. Alison was first, after putting together an amazing album, then me about an hour later, followed by Trish. Imogen also wrote a fantastic article for the North Shore Tramping Club Facebook page, which captured the day perfectly.
So that’s it from me until next time. Enjoy Trish’s beautiful photos.