Walking West: The newly reopened White Track

Empty North Piha from Laird Thompson track. (Photo by Michael Andrew.) It’s a wet Saturday morning and North Piha is empty. With much of the world still trying to practice social distancing, it seems an enviable place to be – nothing but the surf, the drizzle and hectares of black sand between us and the other wandering souls far down the beach.

We head to the northern tip of the beach below the hulking headland and find the entrance to Laird Thompson track tucked away in the coastal scrub. We climb the sand and clay track above the beach for about 20 minutes, passing a no-stopping rock fall area, before reaching the saddle that separates Piha from White’s Beach. We take the small five minute sidewalk out to the lookout at Te Waha point, the historic site of one of Piha’s pa and a great vantage point from which to look down to White’s Beach; rugged, isolated and empty.

Standing on the point with the unrelenting wildness of the west coast spread out below, a sombre thought suddenly comes into my mind; Eloi Jean Rolland, the young French student who disappeared just before New Zealand went into lockdown and whose cell phone signal was last detected near Piha. His disappearance unsolved, we stay silent for a moment in a sort of impromptu prayer; looking down at the heaving, ripping

It is heartening to note, at a time when Auckland

Council is having to cut costs due to facility closures and resultant lost revenue caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, that regional park walking tracks remain a priority, writes FIONA DRUMMOND.

Work has restarted on six Waitākere regional park tracks after the coronavirus lockdowns halted upgrade works. Forested areas of regional parks were closed off and a rāhui was placed over the ranges by West

Auckland iwi Te Kawerau-ā-Maki in 2018 to protect the trees from kauri dieback disease and prevent further spread, affecting public accessibility to 100 tracks in the Waitākere Ranges. Auckland Council’s biosecurity manager of kauri dieback, Lisa Tolich, said the lockdown slowed work towards re-openings and put a strain on the council’s five-year re-opening programme. “Work was also pushed back into a more challenging time of year when weather conditions were less favourable both in terms of ground conditions and

surf, reminded suddenly of the west coast’s capacity to be just as deadly as it is beautiful.

Clouds have amassed above the headland and it starts pelting hard, so we zip up our jackets and decide to skip the rocky descent down to White’s Beach and head up Rose Track and onto the driveway that runs up to Anawhata Road. After 30 minutes we reach the road, which divides the coastal scrub from the rolling pasture and farms on the eastern side.

A few metres south along the road, the walk continues by following another driveway, soon branching off to the left through a kauri dieback cleaning station and onto White Track itself.

Although it was recently reopened, the closure of White Track due to kauri dieback courted controversy from some Piha locals who claimed the exorbitant upgrade cost wasn’t necessary considering there weren’t actually any kauri on or near the track at all.

Whether or not it was a waste of money, the new gravel surface certainly makes for easy walking as we descend south through the kōwhai and rātā rainforest, gradually seeing more large specimens of karaka and mataī.

As we climb down a series of newly formed steps, it’s difficult to know by how much the new track diverts from the old one. It certainly heads in the same direction however, gradually winding down the hill and into a dense river gully.

Here the track enters something of a nīkau grove; hundreds of towering trees in all directions, occasionally separated by the sprawling branches of a gnarled and ancient pūriri.

A further 10 minutes and we cross the bloated Marawhara Stream before walking across the reserve to North Piha Road. From here it’s a short stroll back to the parking lot to change, and then a frantic but very brief

Six more Waitākere walks to reopen by end of the year

swim in the crisp, wintery ocean. getting suitable weather for the helicopter work needed to fly materials in and out.”

By the end of 2020, nine tracks in Auckland regional parks will reopen thanks to funding from the Natural Environment Targeted Rate. These include Omanawanui, Pūriri Ridge, Donald McLean, Karamatura Loop Walk, Winstone and Ahuahu tracks in the Waitākere Ranges.

The popular two-kilometre Spraggs Bush track connecting Scenic Drive and Turanga Road (off Mountain Road) in the Waitākere Ranges re-opened in July.

Lisa said $6.6 million has been set aside for regional park track upgrades this year, a $4.8m increase from the previous year.

Waitākere Ranges Local Board chairman Greg Presland said track upgrades are important because they provide vital links for the area.

“I look forward to seeing more tracks open as time progresses and thank everyone for their patience during the works”