Beached

The Okura Walkway pt 2

Okura Sandspit to Dacre Cottage (via the beach)
(page 1)

The early photos in this section were taken in late February 2005 when I walked this part of the track with Annette and Stephen. There is a considerable contrast between Dacre Cottage then and as we found it in October 2006. Somebody has done a lot of work here.

From the spit we follow a mudstone beach around the coast to Dacre Cottage. There is an inland path as well but that's for another day.

Here and there, the stone has been carved by the waves into intricate forms

and the sedimentary layers that make up this coastline are well in evidence. It's dead low tide and a couple of riders have come across from Okura for a run up the beach. We continue along the beach, and shortly see Dacre Cottage up ahead.

The cottage in 2005 was surrounded by long grass, and battened down against vandals and burglars, and generally looked a bit in want of attention.

By the time we arived in October 2006, we hardly recognised the place. A small picket fence now surrounds the cottage with a lavender garden just inside and a deep bed of shell between the garden and the cottage.

The unkempt long grass has given away to lawn, and a medium size Great Dane lies quietly by the shed. The acting caretaker and former DOC ranger for the area apologises for disturbing the wilderness peace with his motormower

The two dogs decided it was time for play

but once the shell started to fly inside the fence we decided to intervene.

If you've got transport organised from the end of the track back to the beginning, you can do the entire distance easily in 3-5 hours. We took several bites at it, and the next section details the round trip from Stillwater to Dacre Cottage via a coastal route and back along the clifftop through native bush.