New Zealand Walks
Over 50 walks in this year ’s Waiheke Walking Festival
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ockdowns may have turned our world upside down, but walking has found a new place in people’s hearts. A time for fresh air and getting out and about in our communities, but also smiles from faces that get more familiar each walk, and a wave and ‘hello’ to neighbours from a safe distance. There’s no doubting how much better we all feel when we return to our bubble after a walk. Those who live on Waiheke Island have long known they live in paradise, and one of the silver linings of closed borders has been more Kiwis coming to the island instead of their traditional winter break in the Pacific. And why wouldn’t you? A tropical island with its own micro-climate a short ferry ride from downtown Auckland. Waiheke is famous for award-winning wine and restaurants, beautiful beaches and views that simply take your breath away. In addition to this, it is fast becoming well-known for the huge network of tracks that hug the coast beneath giant pōhutukawa trees, or zig zag www.walkingnewzealand.co.nz
their way through the Whakanewha ing a Māori pā site. On the beach, you can spot dotRegional Park to the chorus of tūī, terels (tūturiwhatu) in a protected kereru and pīwakawaka. area. And of course, walks can be With a rich history of Māori on Waiheke, with Europeans also settling and farming on the Island Above: On The Man’O War walk - some of which is explored in the in 2019. Festival’s story telling walks, includ- Below right: On the Awawaroa Coastal Walk.
Walking New Zealand, issue no 283 - 2021
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