A Nostalgic Walk to Karekare Beach and Falls

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The Karekare is located about 32 kilometers west of Auckland City Center. From the Karekare road central car park, a 10-minute walk will lead to the beach while going the other way the falls situated about a 5-minute walk from the car park. The Karekare beach and falls are part of the Regional Park with camping sites and walking tracks to enjoy New Zealand's best scenery.

TRAVEL EXPERIENCE

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July 07,2020

My mates and I woke up around 6:00 AM to prepare our lunch and got coffee before we took off. Karekare is located 53 kilometers from our house, which is approximately an hour and a half drive. During the ride on Piha road, West of Auckland, going to the central car park, we stopped and took pictures of alluring scenery *we stopped many times actually*. As we passed Karekare road after Piha Road, we encounter a path going down, which is narrow and uneven that is dangerous for inexperienced drivers to drive. We drove down slowly and surely got tremendously cautious about upcoming vehicles.

Upon arriving at the main car park around 9:00 AM, we waited for other people who also joined the Meetup Group ( Meetup is a Mobile Application used to organize groups and events for people with the same interest ). While waiting for the other people to arrive, we searched for maps and walking tracks that we can use during the hike and read some history of the beach.

The Deadly Coast: "Graves of Shipwrecked sailors are scattered all along this coastline including those from the stream and sail ship, HMS Orpheus, which was wrecked on the Manukau Bar in 1998"

As everyone settled the group's organizer, Mr. Stephen read the rules and guidelines before the hike began. As we start the 15-kilometer walk. We walk towards Lone Kauri Rd. Going across the Waitakere Ranges, we began to see the house and the falls in the mountain ranges.

During the walk through the ranges of Waitakere, The organizer, Mr. Stephen, stopped for a rest and demonstrated how to make a leaf whistle. As the foggy atmosphere runs through our lungs as we breathe the air while the light drops of rain were felt in our skin. The weather during the hike was unpredictable, but everyone remains optimistic as we see the ranges' alluring scenery.

While hiking across the rain forest, we encounter beautiful flowers and a magnificent "Instagramable" scene that caught our attention. We ate our packed lunch and took the Piha road back to the car park. Since we're taking the main road, one of the group members has a whistle to alert everyone on passing vehicles. As we walk through the way, we walk in a single file to prevent road accidents.

As we arrived in the main parking lot, we walked for 5 mins going to the falls and went for a short dip due to the cold waters and decided to walk to the beach after, just to unwind and admire the beauty of the universe's creation.

The trip duration lasted about 5 hours since the trip was cut short due to the rainy weather, but everything was a blast. It was tiring but worth going back and remembering. As we're walking on the beach, the notion of feeling that you're the lead actor of a music video that feels the burning sensation of a healing soul. Overall the trip was affordable since it was arranged from a Meetup group that only accepts gold coin donations, and it only takes an hour and a half to travel. Along the way, we got along with many people during the hike and know more about their perspective and culture.

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