Tramp Reflections 808 - Gibson Beach, Te Akau

22 February 2009

The Reccy

Initial lack of information made me and Anna go on a reccy trip into this area, unknown to us.

We rented a car and armed with a copy of the topo map we walked over farmland from Te Akau Rd up to a ‘Maori monument’ which was indicated on our Kiwi road atlas (nobody was home). The grave on top of a hill near the coast belonged to Te Para Haimona (1847-1914) who had played an important role in the development of local Christianity.

We did a loop via the beach north of Gibson Beach and a farm track on adjacent land back to the road. We talked to both the Maori owners of the land that we had trespassed on that day. The grave site was ‘tapu’ and they didn’t like the idea of having people on their land, so we couldn‘t repeat this for the club unfortunately.

On the way back we dropped a note in the mailbox of the Townshends property. Ross Townshend called us back sometime later and we arranged a tramp with access via his property to Gibson Beach.

The Tramp

Dianne Bowen, Sue Kempthorne, Elisabeth Sullivan, Cathy Old, Louise, Adrienne and Brett signed in and were promised a late start on Sunday morning since the low tide, although not really crucial, was at 3pm.

We drove via Te Akau township, drove up the Townsend driveway, parked the van and discussed the possible routes with Ross. He gave us a laminated aerial map of his property showing buildings, landmarks and ponds. He also grants access to duck shooters and hunters in the season.

We walked up through Fern Tree Gully, past an airstrip and from a high point we pointed out the Maori grave from our reccy to the others. We continued down to the beach and everybody ventured out over the beautiful ‘pancake’ rocks on the south end of Gibson Beach.

The weather improved as the day progressed and we walked along the beach to the north end, again as far as the sea allowed. We passed a couple of baches secluded between rocks and headland and all gathered for lunch at Ross’s bach. The sunshine and the beautiful view made me think this was not a bad place to be!

Then it was back over the farm, over the rolling hills among the healthy looking beef animals, and out to the van.

We dropped a little something at the house and thanked Ross again for his cooperation and off we went, back home via Ngaruawahia. It was a nice, easy walk and it was good to see a part of the coastline that one would otherwise not be able to see. The owner is willing to ‘have us again’. It may be nice to explore some more of the beaches in this area like Carter’s and Waikorea.

Written by Michiel van Dijk

Photographs by unknown (Canon PowerShot SX100 IS).