A Dam Nice Walk

Today the boyfriend and I decided to go for a walk on a trail up in the Waitakere Ranges, aka The Waitaks. We googled and found a trail that looked promising (1.5 hour, beginner) and off we went armed with bottles of water and muesli bars!

Then the fun began. The boyfriend, who was driving at lightening speed, drove past the trail entrance. OK, no big deal. He turn around and parked in a parking bay and we started walking towards the trail entrance. After 400 meteres we decided we were probably in the wrong parking bay, went back to the car and tried again. Success! Found the train entrance. Off we went...About 10 metres. No was was that muddy, steep mess a beginner trail. I know my limits and I knew that that trail was waaaay to hard. We turned back and got back into the car. Then I remembered the Waitakere Dam had a paved walking trail down to the dam that might be just what we needed for our first bush walk.

And so we walked to the dam

In fine print the sign says that it is uphill all the way back...yep...missed that one!

Down the path we went

We stopped to see the big Kauri tree

We found a bit of a hiking trail to take us the last little way to the dam

And I managed to get some pictures of our view. They can't even begin to show you how breathtaking it was in real life!

And then we saw the dam

We wandered down some stairs for a closer look

I spotted a trail that led to this bridge, but the boyfriend had to get to work so we didn't have time to explore it

We spent about 10-15 minutes taking in our surroundings (and I took pictures!)

Then we turned around and walked back to the top. Up hills like this

As I was stopped by the side of the road, puffing on my inhaler a friendly council worker who was checking on the water station drove by in his ute and offered us a lift to the top. We told him we would be fine (even though I wasn't so sure!)

It took us about 25 minutes to walk back up to the top. I have never been so glad to see a car before! The hills were very steep! I was happy that I did it though!