8 December 2007

Mercer Bay Loop Walk

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I'm still not as good as I want to be, but I can stop now, and take a photo. I still have to check where my feet go and make sure I'm stable first, but I can stop and take in the immensity of the view from up here.

Behind me a young kawakawa is bursting with vitality. The leaves make a refreshing tea if you crush one and pour boiling water over it.

I think this might be a Pratia.

This I know to be a native but I've lost the name for it if anyone can help.

Here's a somewhat leathery mahoe

We carry on along here. Alice is on a lead. I don't think she'd go far but we're not prepared to go after her along here if she does spot a rabbit. (She just about climbed out the skylight when she spotted a couple in broad daylight eating their way through the Waitakere Golf Course.

Looking back we get a wonderful view of Karekare Beach.

Down by my feet a small colony of coarse maidenhair fern, Adiantum cunninghamii, is well established.

We pass one section where the track approaches closely to the edge of the cliff. Once again, I take the time to linger for a while until I feel comfortable.

A young kowhai - possibly Sophora microphylla, but I'm not very knowledgeable about the kowhai species and varieties.

For a short while we leave the edge of the cliff and head into more open bush.

Then once more we're out on the edge again. The manuka flowers are incredibly thick.

Here's the view north towards Piha.

It's certainly hot out here.

Sometimes it's nice just to stand and look at the sea. There's nothing specific to focus on, just a sense of it as a presence. You can just see the curve of the horizon.

I'm starting to look forward to lunch. We continue.

Another moment or two looking out. About a centimetre from the upthrust bit of vegetation on the left, you can just see a small white dot on the sea. It's a boat. That's how high up we are.

About 10m down a small path to the left is a seat where you can sit and do that looking at the ocean I was talking about in comfort.

New season's growth on the mingimingi provides a play of green

and here's a Carmichaelia or New Zealand broom.

I am fascinated by the leaf on this koromiko. Some insect with a particularly large mouth has obviously been having trouble with diarrhoea. I've never seen such regular bus-conductor chomping before on a leaf like this.

This is a pseudopanax of some sort, but whether it's a lancewood or not is harder to tell.

And here we are back at the van.