Beach walk

Martin and I are trying to take time every third Thursday to do something nice together.  Last Thursday we caught the bus to Green Bay, with the intention of starting to walk the Manukau Coastal Walkway and see how far we could get.  There were easy buses back from either Blockhouse Bay Beach, mid-way between there and Lynfield Cove or from Lynfield Cove itself.

We didn't check the tides before we left (the walk is all well away from the sea, often along the clifftop), but when we arrived at Green Bay the tide was well out.  Another group were already striding off along the beach, and we decided to do the same and see how far we got - it looked like we could rejoin the main path at many points.

Looking at the interesting rock formations and vegetation on the cliffs at Green Bay (you can also get some idea how far out the tide is).

We walked along some pretty isolated beaches, many featuring random debris.  I was very taken by this old box, that is now a little functional ecosystem, with ferny aquatic plants and sea snails and things.

After maybe 40 minutes walking, Martin spotted a distinctive rail heading down from the rocks to the water.  I didn't realise, but it had been used in the past to launch life boats from the point at the end of Blockhouse Bay Beach - we'd walked all the way to Blockhouse Bay Beach!

We lay on the grass for a while and chatted in the sun, then headed off along the route I swim at Blockhouse Bay Beach.  It was firm enough to walk the whole way across.  I was interested to realise a pipe I often swim across is actually a tree trunk - and I was very surprised how not-very-tall the rocks are where I sit on the far side of the bay before swimming back.

I also loved how the bird footprints looked like flowers

There still seemed to be plenty of beach to walk on, so we continued on towards Lynfield.

This cave was pretty cool

I think this path up the cliff may be the access-way to the house of one of my church friends - I need to check

Eventually, at the far end of what turned out to be Lynfield Cove, we finally came across a point we couldn't get around without getting our feet wet.  So we walked back to the park at the beach end of the bay and spent a while looking out to sea, as well as watching a dad play with a drone while his daughter threw sticks into the water.

Then we walked the only section of our originally-intended path, up to Halsey Drive where we would catch our bus home.

Looking out to sea from above Lynfield Cove

Looking back towards the boat house at Blockhouse Bay Beach

The end of our 'off-road' walk - from here we walked up Strathnaver Crescent to Halsey Drive and lay on the grass for 20 minutes or so before catching our bus home.

It was a delightfully meandery way to spend a morning - and we even bumped into a neighbour for a friendly chat on the way home from the bus :-)