This bad boy connects Whananiki North to Whananiki South, over an estuary. Unfortunately it was low tide when we crossed, so the size of this massive footbridge seemed a bit wasted on the small stream in the middle..
Longest pedestrian bridge in the southern hemisphere!
Finally we set sail!
For all the hours of waiting, it only took us about 10 minutes to cross this short section of water. We were dropped off at a huge marina (which isn’t on the map), got our bearings and made our way to Ruakaka for the night via some Fish & Chips enroute :)
Crossing Waipu River
Easy day today, just walking around the Bream Bay coast line. Heading to Waipu Cove where our friend Jane & Nick have kindly arranged for us to stay at their parents Beach Bach :) The only thing standing in our way is Waipu River. I’ve read that it can be quite a tricky bugger to cross, but even though we had some rain yesterday I think the previous few weeks of unusually dry weather meant the river was quite low, just above my belly button and not much flow. We had no trouble getting across.
Lunchtime leg shaving
Stopping for some sustenance by the side of the road we were surprised to find a waterfall and a small deep lake. Cookie had fun I think hurling himself across but I went by the tarmac behind ;) After a few minutes a local parked up stripped off and dived in! He couldn’t believe we’d not been in for a dip! But it did make a great spot for a snooze… and to give my legs a quick once over with the razor haha! :)
The road we were walking along was called Falls Road, so I suppose we should of expected it! Lovely spot though :)
Crossing Weiti River
Paddy really kindly offered to whisk us over to the trail on the other side on his amazing boat. Had to jump out with the rope at the other end to moor us up. Very exciting :) I would make a good pirate I think…
We haven’t really enjoyed the challenge of finding rides across rivers so far.. So were pleasantly surprised by today’s efficient crossing, especially in such a fine looking sailing boat :)
There’s a shit load of boats moored up in this river mouth, so I reckon it’s always going to be fairly easy to catch a ride on this one.
Checking the Depth of Okura River
It’s a big one… Although a tasty blue colour it looked deep, and with a fair few speeding ripples on the surface. The notes say you can cross it at Low Tide. But as our luck seems to be we got there just after High Tide. Cookie got stuck in to test it while I filmed, and all look good til the dark blue bit where Cookie slipped in up to his armpits. Sauntering back, ‘think we better walk round :)’ he said, ‘i don’t think you’re gonna like that bit!’. We could of sat it out in the sand and waited for the water to wain, but the sun was dipping and we had miles to cover so we ‘nipped round’ the scenic route and headed on to Browns Bay and the promise of refreshing beverages…
It was only a couple of hours past high tide when we got to the river. Decided to try and cross at the second spit which the trail notes said isn’t as deep as Dacre Point. I went out to test the water, before I even got to the other side I was in water up to my armpits (would be Nicky’s neck!), also the soft sand and outgoing current made me feel a bit unbalanced. Decided it wasn’t a good idea to cross, we could either wait up to 4 hours for low tide, or walk around to the bridge at the end of the estuary. The local Tony’s (what we call the little black oyster catcher birds) were going mental about us being on their spit, so we decided to walk round. On the map it looked like a mile and a half to Haigh Access Road, but I think the trail has been re-routed? It felt a lot longer and I started to think we should of waited for low tide.. Road walk to Browns Bay was pretty dull.Dam It! ( Gotta get me feet wet )
Beautiful little spot that surprised us along the way today. The cascading water looks a bit on the brown side if you know what I mean… But Cookie assures me this is all totally ‘natural’… That’s my main worry I think ;)
We caught a cheeky bus to Coroglen to avoid some road walking from Hahei. Then picked up a trail over to the Kauaeranga Valley and then down to Thames. Nice easy going so far, just following a 4×4 track up into the hills.Swing Bridge across Rangihau Stream
We’ve had a go on a few swingers today. And they’re a right laugh. They can get pretty bouncy towards the far end with the momentum. Hold on tight!I’ve read that there’s some pretty minimal ‘3 wire’ swing bridges on the South Island, so it’s good news that Nicky thinks they’re fun to cross.Boots off! And Ready to Wade
Back up into the forest today. A dramatic gorge ahead. The only thing about all the rain, is that the rivers have risen…. ek! Only one thing for it. Get yer boots off and get down there
We’re following the Dicky Flat Track here, then later a bit of the Mangakino Track and finally onwards to the Waitawheta Tramway. Phew, sounds like a tough day ahead!Up to my Knees in Trouble
No not really ;) Its quite fun wading through a river :D They’re not too cold either, as the air temperature is still well hot even if the sun doesn’t have his hat on. Those sticks are handy though to balance on the submerged wet rocks.
