saturday july 28, 2017 - the fairbrother loop walk, ohope beach

I really like walking, I get lost less that way.

The Ngatapuwae o Toi is a loop track from Whakatane to Ohope. This morning I walked part of it, which is the Fairbrother Loop Walk at Ohope Beach. They say the walk should take about an hour and half, and that’s taking it easy. There were some steeper uphill sections, but if you powered through it I say you can do it in an hour. I was alone for most of the time - the track was also a bit muddy as we’ve had quite a bit of rain over the last few days. I can see this track being busier in the summer.

Ohope is just a ten minute drive over the hill from my house, but you can also catch the bus, or even walk, but it can add an hour to your adventure. There is a small carpark area at the start of the track which is at the bottom of Ohope Hill, or you can just park on Pohutukawa Ave, which is a couple of minutes from the track entrance. I learned today that the track was actually carved by a friend's grandfather, Peter Fairbrother, pretty cool!

I was buzzing when I saw a robin, a fantail and a Kereru (wood pigeon) on the track, but I didn’t get any photos as I only had the gopro and couldn’t get close enough to get a decent shot. I thought about trying to bribe the wood pigeon with my chocolate cupcake that I packed as a snack, but decided to just admire it in the trees.

You can still hear the traffic from most of sections of the track, which was a little annoying. Then I realised how awesome it was that for us, nature is literally just in our backyard. There are two links to this track - at the Summit Junction you can turn right and you can walk to Whakatane via the Mokoroa George track. As you head further along the Fairbrother Loop, you have the choice to walk to Burma Road.

The coolest thing about this track is that it’s free, and there’s plenty of these in New Zealand that us locals forget about. Last year I invested in a decent pair of walking shoes, which is great for tracks like these, especially when it gets muddy.

The Whakatane Kiwi Trust also run night time guided kiwi walks on this track, or you can do a self-guided walk. As this bush is right in the heart of the kiwi breeding programme, dogs aren’t allowed, so just leave them at home.