Makara track hike (preceded by an earthquake)

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Eggs laid almost on the path
Saturday morning I was woken by the door to the bedroom shaking in it's frame. Gradually the vibrations spread through the whole room.

I don't ever remember experiencing an earthquake before and I was struck by the noise. I thought that the 'all encompassing rumbling tone' that I've heard at the movies was an Hollywood affectation.

I was lying warm and comfy under the covers thinking 'I don't want to get out of bed so I'll just see how bad it gets'.
If the coffee doesn't stimulate enough!

As the vibrations continued I started to formulate a plan for what I was going to do if I decided that it was worthwhile getting up. Possibly bits of plaster falling from the roof would have been a decent indicator?


Makara beach is a twenty minutes from the Wellington CBD. The small village sitting on the coast is typified by it's cafe. Weathered and grey, but eventually humming with activity.
Our group arriving and filling up the car spaces, felt like we were doubling the local population.

Once formally mustered, we set out walking along the beach, but soon were climbing up into the hills with some brilliant views and a few sheep for company.

We came across a couple of decommissioned gun emplacements (kept around just in case Oz decides to invade ;-)

Beyound the concreat bunkers I saw a wind farm strewn across the tops of the hills.
We made a small detour to examine one installation. It loomed over us like an H. G. Wells inspired space invader, the silently rotating blades sweeping current out of the air.
Turns out that each tower contains an elevator so unlike the lighthouses of old, service techs can be hoisted to the top with relative ease.

The second half of the hike taking us back along the beach to the village, was a lot more tiresome.
The round pebbles rolled about with every footstep.
It was impossible to take a clean step.
Each time we rounded a fold in the cliffs I hoped I'd see the little collection of houses which signalled respite and possibly a coffee.

Turns out the cafe was open, and had decent coffee.
It was a great day trip.






This was a hike organised by Adventure Wellington Meetup Group

Below is a map of our hike including points of interest that you can click on...


View Makara Track in a larger map

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