Le Bons Bay & Hinewai Reserve

After several days being cocooned at Okains Bay, I was leaving to climb back up to the Summit Rd, and do some exploring en route to Akaroa. The weather this last morning at Okains was a bit cooler, but you can never really tell what weather changes might be coming when you are nestled down low in the valley.

When I arrived up the top onto the Summit Rd, I found there was indeed quite a cool southerly raging, and I quickly had to add some more layers of clothing. But that wasn't going to stop me exploring.

My first deviation was down into Le Bons Bay, a very similar bay to Okains Bay, but there is no camping ground there. The geological history of the rocks seems to jump out at you as you walk onto the beach- and you can easily imagine past volcanic eruptions. As I headed back up the valley, I bought a bag from the village store, which was helping to raise funds for efforts to trap predators of the local white flippered penguins. Le Bons Bay School are actively involved as an EnviroSchool. A lot of the buildings in the bays in this part of Banks Peninsula seem to tell a story of the colonial past, so it was a surprise when I came upon a small, more recent Anglican church in the village.

 Further up the valley, I headed down a side road to see some art by a Dutch couple who have emigrated. Saskia van Voorn has made some exquisite prints of the local area using a woodblock printing technique.

 When I reached the Summit Rd again, I was back into the raging southerly. My friend had told me to go and visit Hinewai, a reserve funded by a Trust.

 The native bush is being allowed to regenerate in this reserve, by natural methods. Trees are being spread over what was farmland by birds dropping seeds.

 There is gorse in this area that is not being eradicated. It acts as a nursery for native seedlings, that eventually outstrip it, and the gorse dies off. 

 My Camino buddies might be interested to know there is a problem here also with tissues being dropped (though perhaps not of the toilet kind.) Maybe if gorse was grown like this along the Camino trails, it might dissuade the pilgs from dropping tissue waste indiscriminately...

 The view down into the nearby bay was beautiful, and you can see quite clear lines between the farmland and the regenerated bush areas. I finished my quick look at the reserve with a climb up Mikimiki Knob, where there were many species of divaricating plants, that were growing low down close to the rocks and substrate. Given the almost alpine conditions this day, it was easy to imagine such a growth form was an advantage against exposure to some strong coastal winds.

Okains- Morning 4- the top of the hill

Bit shocking really that it took until the fourth morning in camp before I finally climbed the 'Big Hill'. But this morning when I peeked out at the beach, it was great to see that the mist had cleared.

Here is the view from near the top of the hill, looking back at the other bays I have passed through. Okains Bay camping ground is nestled in the pine trees in the third bay along.

When I reached the top of this hill in 2008 I had fun taking photos of a 'solo' tree up here, and I was keen to see if it still stood. And it did...

On the way down again, I could see everything clearly: the mist was well gone.  Here is a view of the islands the seabirds nest on from above...

...and here is a view of the same islands at sea level in Little Okains Bay, the first bay along.

Now, I know you might all be thinking this trip is a bit of a 'solo effort' as you see no people in my shots. That's pretty general with my blogging- for privacy reasons.  I was sharing the camping ground with a few friends though, and here are a few camping scenes.

I did tend to rise before most of my friends, and by the time I got back from  my morning walks, breakfast would be served....

Okains Bay is a lovely camping ground where you spread out and find your own spots under pine trees. Not all square and confined.

The young lady of our party was about to commandeer this hammock for some relaxed holiday reading.

And here is some of our swimming gear drying off for the next swim. I was the North Island Wimp of the party- moaning about the cold South Island water, but I did get in once or twice....

Okains: two misty days, then glorious sunset

Last time I was at Okains Bay - three years ago in 2008- I was keen to climb hills as part of my Camino training. No such compulsion existed this time, so when the next two mornings dawned with thick mist covering the tops of the hills, I was happy enough to shorten my morning walks!

 When I was walking along the Old Wharf track, I had seen a tern diving repeatedly for food, then disappearing. Chances are it was nesting on the lower of these two islands, where many seabirds could be seen, safe at a distance from interfering humans.

 By later in the afternoon of the second day, blue skies had returned, and soon people were taking advantage of the surf and the estuary, swimming or paddling, or with kayaks and boards of varying kinds.

After dinner at the campsite, we were all slipping into relaxed laziness, when someone came to say there was a cruise ship passing the bay. This we had to see!

It was just as well we had been roused from a lazy state, as there was another glorious sunset to be seen this evening.

This little boy seemed to be enjoying the colours in the sky as he ran out several times to the surf.

And the colours over the hills were quite spectacular.

But the most glorious colours were seen where the sun set in the west, inland from the camp.

Okains Bay Camping 2008

Here is a YouTube slideshow of photos from camping at Okains Bay, Banks Peninsula, January 2008. Plus just a few photos at the end from a walk to Taylor's Mistake.

Okains Bay part 2

Mostly I chose the early mornings to go walking, and climbed up to the far headland several times. Here I am looking back towards the camping ground... in the far bay. You can't see any campers as all the tents are well hidden within the pine trees, which gave shelter on the hot sunny days we had. At the time I was walking, you couldn't see many campers either as mostly they were still deep in their sleeping bags - unless of course they had young children!

From near little Okains Bay I took this photo of the little 'islands', from where you can hear lots of seabirds calling. One morning I got 'divebombed' by a seagull as I passed back through this bay... so I don't like your chances of getting close to the island, even at low tide!

But it sounded like the local Okains Bay museum should also be visited. This became my mission later in the morning on our last full day at the bay. If you left camp when the tide had gone out quite a bit, you could walk all the way up one side of the lagoon to the first bridge.

The historic nature of this area was apparent, with quite a few buildings dating from earlier times. The hillsides were very dry and barren. I was left pondering how much topsoil had been lost when the bush was all cleared from these hills.

There was a lot of bird life to observe walking up along the lagoon, and if you were cunning enough, you could also see some of the crabs before they heard you and scuttled back into their incredibly numerous holes.

Next, by crossing over the bridge, you came to a local metalled road that led all the way up alongside the riverbank, to a point just opposite the village itself. By using the Millennium footbridge, you could then reach the village.

The museum itself was quite amazing, with some very special Maori treasures inside.

There was an array of interesting old buildings, and I was especially taken by this wooden house.

There was a modern meeting house decorated with beautiful tukutuku panels and carvings, and a shed housed two waka that I was told are used on Waitangi Day.

Like many rural museums, there was an eclectic selection on display. One of the saddest display cases for me was one that contained five stuffed extinct huia. But there were a lot of beautiful Maori artifacts. If you visit Okains, make sure you get to the museum.