T791 number Ngatitangata Road to Waihi Beach (coast line) - The group heading down to Homunga Bay

Tramp Reflections 791 - Ngatitangata Road to Waihi Beach (coast line)

10 August 2008

The Hamilton Tramping Club organised a tramp in the Kaimais but changed to the Waihi coast line tramp due to weather damage to the Kaimais track. I meet up with the Hamilton Tramping Club at 7:30am ready to go. We hopped into the van and drove for just under 2 hours to Ngatitangata Road, Waihi. The trip there was eventful with navigation issues to try and find where the tramp was to start. Once we got to the start point of out tramp I was introduced to the 16 other people going on this tramp.

The trip consisted of a steep descent from Ngatitangata Rd down to Homunga Bay where we had morning tea, then took a DOC marked track around the coast to Waihi Beach where the van had been driven around for us.

T791 number Ngatitangata Road to Waihi Beach (coast line) - Natalie at Homunga Bay where we stopped for morning tea

We took a detour to see the William Wright Waterfalls which was 1.1km from the main track. This detour took an hour all up due to the many river crossings and a fallen tree across the track. The track from Ngatitangata Rd to Homunga Bay to Waihi beach was 8.8 Km.

We started our tramp at 9.15am and finished at 2.30pm. We had three breaks during the day which totalled 50min which means we were tramping for 4 hours 25min and covered 11km. This means we were travelling at 2.2 km per hour. This pace felt really slow but was good to get in all the sights. At the beginning of the tramp I talked to the leader about safety and how the leader and co-leaders were positioned throughout the group. The leader replied that a Club member or group leader was to be at the front and back at all times.

T791 number Ngatitangata Road to Waihi Beach (coast line) - William Wright Falls

Another safety aspect was that before the tramp a club member or leader did a 'recki' which means the track being used that weekend was checked out either by doing the tramp earlier in the week or talking to DOC. In the case of this weekend the Kaimai's were deemed unsafe by DOC, so the Hamilton Tramping Club leader for this weekend changed to the Waihi beach track which she knew was in good condition. From this tramp I felt that I learned that enthusiasm for both the tramp and the people doing the tramp was important for the leader as she didn't want people just walking along.

Over all the day was well planned and went smoothly. The weather was amazing and the people were friendly and the sights were amazing!

Natalie

Photograph by Natalie Sorensen (Sony DSC-H1).