A free guided walk on Waiheke Island brings visitors closer to nature.
It came as a bit of a surprise to me to learn that, as a visitor to Waiheke, I could avoid the hot, noisy slog up the busy road from the Matiatia ferry terminal to Oneroa village by exchanging it for a shady wander through a stretch of native bush. Thanks to volunteers from Forest & Bird over the past 20 years, regenerating bush now covers the valley on either side of the road, almost to the waters' edge.
And thanks to Auckland Council, a local guide and nature expert, Janine James from digiadventure, was contracted to guide the Waiheke Free Walks programme over summer. If, like me, you tend to be an impulse visitor and neglect to make a plan of what to do on the island, the free walks is an initiative that deserves all the support it can get. Unfortunately, it has ended for this summer (although discussions are under way to ensure its continuation).
But on the day I went Janine was there to meet the 10am ferry in her high-vis vest. She rounded us up and shepherded us along the water's edge to the start of the track in the Te Atawhai Whenua Reserve.
On this particular humid Saturday I was one of a widely aged group, from not quite 6 months old to 60, who set off crocodile fashion behind Janine into the bush. There was baby Croccie, mum Davina, a raft of excited children, a couple of parents and me. Although the headland is covered with different and well-sign posted walkways, we took the wetland one, edging up the lowest part of the hillside. The first thing I notice is the loud buzz of thousands of cicadas. Janine shows us the holes in the pathway from where they hatch before climbing up a tree and shedding their pupae shell to become the voice of summer.
