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You Take the High Road

The Okura Walkway, 3, ( page 1)

Stillwater to Dacre Cottage and return

DoC time about 2 hours. Fatman time 3.5 hours, including time for photographs and hanging out at the cottage.

Turn off East Coast Bays Rd just south of Silverdale onto Spur Rd, then onto Duck Creek Rd, and follow this to the end where there is a small park, public toilets, and a campground.

I'd have to say I was not impressed with the first 20 minutes of this walk.

If I had been an enthusiast for invasive NZ weeds, I'd have been in my element. Tobacco Weed, Gorse, Pampas Grass, Smilax, Oxalis, Periwinkle.

The saving grace was a number of classic old Macrocarpa trees as made famous in Murray Ball's Footrot Flats comic strip, but even these are approaching use-by date

photo by miranda woodward

There are several hawthorns are on the verge of bursting into flower

photo by miranda woodward

We continue along the track. It's still predominantly grassy, but muddy and even boggy in places, with barely a detail or two to compensate.

There's a puriri (Vitex lucens) overhanging the track, and when I say that was enough to lend interest, you get the idea. Actually, it was the lush epiphyte population that grabbed my attention

Just past here on the edge of the water is an old ngaio (Myoporum laetum).

photo by miranda woodward

You can see the oil glands that dot the leaves and are characteristic of this genus. Miranda uses the macro setting to get up close to the flower.

photo by miranda woodward

We continue on until we encounter just the cutest li'l bridge this side of DoC head office.

We're heading along beside the estuary now

The Weiti river has a number of streams feeding into it, each with it's own little estuary and mangrove colony.

Through this gate and a little further and we reach a wonderful old pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa),

and it is almost dead low tide as we move out onto the beach itself.

Rangiora (Brachyglottis repanda) is also in full bloom. the species name refers to the curling edges of the leaves.

photo by miranda woodward

and once again we get up close for a better look.

photo by miranda woodward

Mahoe (Melicytus ramiflorus) is in lush growth along the shoreline

and already starting to display its fat buds. (Ramiflorus means flowering on the branches)

photo by miranda woodward

We head around the shore, past a couple of guys with terrier/chihuahua crosses. Alice has a strong desire to strike up a conversation, but we head on through until we reach the coastal route and overland route fork.

The steps look fairly rigorous, so we head around the coast. We'll think about the overland route on the way back.