Tramp Reflections 824 - Mount Maunganui, Waikareao Estuary and Mclaren Falls Park

16 August 2009

The trampers for the day were Gail, Lynne, Diane, Don, and two new trampers, Joy and Alistair. It was a small group, but a determined one as the weather forecast was not the most favourable. Our day consisted of three separate and distinct tramps, each with its own flavour. After the van ride to the East coast, we began the day by stretching our legs on a pleasant clockwise walk along the relatively level track around the base of Mount Maunganui while occasionally stopping to enjoy the harbour and ocean views along the way. It was a blustery day and the waves were pounding the shore just below the track on the Bay of Plenty side where we stopped to stand in the spray of the waves crashing against the rocks. After nearly circumventing the base of Mount Maunganui, we intersected the trail to the summit and began our trek to the top. The clouds were obscuring the sun, but we welcomed the cool weather for the ascent to the top. As the track to the peak winds its way around the Mount, the views both changed and became more stunning the higher we climbed. Even with the cloudy day, the view from the peak was still well worth the effort. We didn't spend much time at the top of the Mount as we knew a coffee awaited us at the end of the descent. Being somewhat ahead of schedule for the day, we enjoyed a leisurely stop at a coffee shop just off the end of the track.

Feeling quite satisfied by our detour to the coffee shop, it was only a short drive from Mount Maunganui to our next destination, the Waikareao Estuary on the edge of Tauranga. The Waikareao Estuary is bounded by a green belt to the North and by a motorway to the South. We began our tramp from the East car park and decided to begin on the South side of the Estuary. Portions of the track were clearly newly reconstructed, with many new boardwalks stretching out into the tidal mangroves on the edge of the Estuary. Being on the edge of Tauranga and its neighboring communities, the Waikareao Estuary appeared to be a favorite of the locals for jogging, biking and exercising their dogs. As we knew that returning on the North side of the Estuary would be along a motorway, we stopped for lunch in a small park near the West end of the Estuary. While it took us almost two hours, with lunch, to traverse the South side of the Estuary, as the walkway on that side meanders substantially more than the footpath next to the motorway, it only took us about a half hour to return to the van along the North side and, excluding lunch, we ended up equaling the suggested 2 hour walking time for the flat 9.5 kilometer walkway. Although the walkway around the Waikareao Estuary is exposed to the elements, the predicted rain had remained absent.

Our last stop for the day was McLaren Falls Park, a very pleasant recreation area just off State Highway 29 on the way back to Hamilton from Tauranga. While McLaren Falls Park would be a good place for a weekend barbeque, and has a number of tracks that appear to be worth taking on a future tramp, we only had enough time to take a short walk to a nearby waterfall and to wander down to Cherry Bay just off of Lake McLaren. The long predicted rain finally decided to arrive; however, it was only enough to dampen our clothes, but not our spirits. After returning to the van, we continued our drive through the remainder of McLaren Falls Park before returning to view the actual McLaren Falls just outside the park, which were quite spectacular given the recent rains. While not a strenuous day, it provided us all with a chance to get outside during our unusually cold and rainy winter.

Written by Don Stover.

Photographs by Lynne Ironside (Fuji FinePix F480).